Sdi, communities and social media

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), communities and social media are three different terms. What do they have in common? At first all these terms are very modern and trendy
…

Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), communities and social media are three different terms. What do they have in common? At first all these terms are very modern and trendy
now. They are very often used not only in technical publications but these words and collocations are also used by the public. It is possible to say that primarily social media could
be described as buzzword (fashion word and vogue word).

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Preface: SDI, Communities & Social MediaKristýna Čerbová1, Otakar Čerba21 Czech Center for Science and Society, Czech Republic2 University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), communities and social media are three differentterms. What do they have in common? At first all these terms are very modern and trendynow. They are very often used not only in technical publications but these words andcollocations are also used by the public. It is possible to say that primarily social media couldbe described as buzzword (fashion word and vogue word). The excessive and inexpert use of these terms is the reason why we try to define all ofthem in the preface of the book. • The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines social media as the forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos). To meet other definitions it is possible to visit the web page 30 Social Media Definitions by Heidi Cohen. • The same source as in previous case offers many definitions of the word ‘community‘. For purposes of this book the definition ‘a body of persons of common and especially professional interests scattered through a larger society‘ is the most suitable. • The definition of SDI was taken over from the INSPIRE Glossary that represents the essential of terminological set of the European INSPIRE directive which constitutes one of the main topic of this book. Spatial Data Infrastructure (of infrastructure for spatial information) means metadata, spatial data sets and spatial data services; network services and technologies; agreements on sharing, access and use; and coordination and monitoring mechanisms, processes and procedures, established, operated or made available in accordance with this Directive. The focus on groups (not on individuals) is the second common character. Neithersocial media nor Spatial Data Infrastructure cannot exist without a connection andcooperation of communities. The various communities are authors (creators) as well as users ofinformation and knowledge related to SDI or social media. The following list shows someconsequences among all three terms: • Social media are able to provide information that are needed by communities as well as by SDI. • And vice versa social media can publish information offered by SDI and communities. • SDI and communities are connected via spatial data and services processed and distribute spatial data sets. Communities provide (share) spatial data as well as services and on the other hand they are able to re-use existing data and services offered by particular SDIs. • SDI can also absorb and process the data and information from communities and social media and develop and provide the new data, information and knowledge. 6 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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This book ‘SDI, Communities & Social Media‘ introduce another consequences andcommon aspects among the above-mentioned terms. The experts on various scientificdisciplines (e.g. geoinformatics, geomatics, information technologies) described their activitiesand experience connected with SDI, communities and social media. The book contains eleven chapters (except preface). They are focused on many varioustopics like spatial data, neogeography, transport systems or geographic information systems.As well the results of large international projects such as Plan4all, Habitats or NaturNet Plusare presented. Last of all we wish you pleasant reading and a lot of new and interesting informationand pieces of knowledge. SDI, Communities and Social Media 7

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Toward an informal Spatial Data Infrastructure: VoluntaryGeographic Information, Neogeography, and the role ofcitizen sensorsTrevor M. Harris and H. Franklin LafoneDepartment of Geology and Geography, West Virginia, University, USA.IntroductionLocation-based services, social media, and the growing opportunities for overcominginformation fragmentation through the inter-connectivity provided by WWW 2.0 andApplication Programming Interfaces (APIs) promises to revolutionize more traditional SpatialData Infrastructures (SDI). Conceived as a framework of authenticated spatial data withembedded metadata and established standards, SDIs have been the backbone of the GIScommunity for some time with nodes managed by government agencies and key databasestakeholders. The rise of Neogeography, premised as it is on the WWW 2.0, social media,location-intelligent mobile devices, open source map data, and mapping software, posessignificant challenges to this traditional order. Breath-taking technological advances, opensource internet applications and web data services, along with published open-source APIsprovide major opportunities for communities to participate, contribute, and draw upon spatialdata and processing services traditionally confined to an expert community. Furthermore, inclosing the gap between data providers and data consumers, this emerging community ofcitizen sensors is capable of providing vast quantities of real-time, geo-tagged media that canenhance and infill much of the geography that created the ‘no data-no geography’ conundrumfaced by the GIS community. However, in so doing, citizen sensors and VolunteeredGeographic Information (VGI) challenge the traditional vision of SDI in the core areas ofstandards, metadata, data management, authenticity, and verification which are the hallmarksof established SDI. This paper unwraps some of these critical threads in a fast evolving field ofspatial crowd-sourcing and evaluates the potential contribution and challenges that arise fromthis emerging fusion of spatially empowered grass-roots communities and volunteers withexisting SDI frameworks.An evolving SDI framework: standards, protocols, and portalsAs GIS has evolved into a recognized and established mainstream technology there has beenincreasing focus by industry, government, and academe on data standards, interoperability,and what has become Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI). Because of the constraining effect ofproprietary data formats so prevalent in early commercial GIS software, and the difficultyexperienced in sharing and reusing spatial data, an early focus of the GIS community was ondata interoperability and spatial data standards. The need for greater flexibility, access, andopenness drove the GIS community toward standards. Initially, issues of interoperabilityfocused heavily on spatial data sharing and metadata. Subsequently, the emphasis has shiftedtoward establishing standards for system and services protocols. As Cowen comments,‘Whether we are talking about light bulbs or video tape, a user must be able to acquirea product with the assurance that it is going to work properly’ (Cowen, 2008). Until 1992 the 8 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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transfer of proprietary data between systems in the US was facilitated through the USGSdevelopment of the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS). The SDTS remains mandatory forfederal agencies to this day (Cowen, 2008). The utility and value of spatial data to thegeospatial community, and especially to government and industry, was multiplied many-foldin the 1990s through the US Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) implementation ofdata interoperability standards and its facilitation of data sharing portals. As the demand forGIS has grown and e-government initiatives and economic pressure to recover investmentshave grown, the heavy emphasis on data interoperability has given way to bridging islands ofGIS resources and to the sharing of GIS services across multiple platforms, servers, institutions,and countries (Kuhn, 2005). Metadata, the all-important ‘data about the data’, provides the critical component indata interoperability by providing details of the data source, its attributes and content, its scaleand accuracy, its original purpose, where users can access it, and its bounding coordinates(Guptill, 1999; Salge, 1999). Metadata captures in an XML document the commoncharacteristics of ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘when’, and ‘how’ of a dataset. These attributes providenot only a catalog of data resources but are the basis upon which data search and retrievalprocedures are performed as part of a ‘distributed discovery mechanism for national digitalgeospatial data’ (http://www.fgdc.gov/metadata). Some would suggest that promulgatingmetadata standards was the single most important component of the FGDC program (Cowen,2008). Several metadata tools have been created to support metadata capture and manysoftware vendors now incorporate metadata creation and editing functions within their owninternal data management systems. Interoperability has evolved considerably over the yearssuch that GIS users now think less in terms of sharing spatial data files but rather the sharing ofgeospatial services for the support of data, systems, and users. The Open GeospatialConsortium (OGC), formed in 1994 from governmental, commercial, and researchorganizations, and comprising over 300 member organizations, provides a forum in the USaround which consensus on open standards for spatial data, Application ProgrammingInterfaces (APIs), web services, and geo-processing, have been achieved (Cowen, 2008). TheWeb Mapping Testbed, for example, from OGC distributes multiple data sets across many mapservers indifferent to the vendor software used (Kuhn, 2005). These standard protocols now include Web Feature Services (WFS), Web Map Services(WMS), Geographic Markup Language (GML), Web Service Common (OWS) andRepresentational State Transfer (REST) (http://www.opengeospatial.org). Many of thesestandards have also attained ISO status under ISO/TC 211 Geographic Information/Geomatics(http://www.isotc211.org/). As Kuhn (2005) suggests, in its current evolutionary form, is a misnomer for the marketfor geographic information is now focused less on spatial data, or even data exchange, butrather the provision of geospatial services through which spatial data content integrationoccurs. Indeed, Kuhn suggests that the term Geospatial Information Infrastructures is nowa more appropriate description of the role of SDIs. A geospatial services vision of SDI includesnot only spatial data but the technology, the user community, the stakeholders, and theframework elements of standards, metadata, interoperability, policies, coordination, sharing,system architectures and interfaces necessary to serve spatial data based on distributednetworks (Kuhn, 2005; Rhind, 1999). Peng (2003) suggests that the GIS community is movingaway from server/client architectures to peer-to-peer architectures. In distributed GIServices, SDI, Communities and Social Media 9

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nodes become both servers and clients according to the specific need. In Peng’s (2003, 10)conceptualization, “GIServices will broaden the usage of geographic information into a widerange of on-line geospatial applications and services, including digital libraries, digitalgovernments, digital earth, on-line mapping, data clearinghouses, real-time spatial decisionsupport tools, dynamic hydrological modeling, distance learning modules, and so on”. Inessence, top-down driven data streams become subsumed within a cloud of data generated byofficials and the public alike. The ability to interact and contribute to distributed GIServices islimited not by authority but by accessibility to the service. As discussed later, the accessibilityand power provided by social media and Application Programming Interfaces (API) fallsnicely into Peng’s distributed services and SDIs will be expected to reflect these services andaccess points. Kuhn (2005) describes SDI as ‘a coordinated series of agreements on technologystandards, institutional arrangements, and policies that enable the discovery and use ofgeospatial information by users and for purposes other than those it was created for’.Traditionally SDIs have been configured at the national level and are designed to support thespatial data needs of countries. In the US, this leadership role has fallen to the interagencyFederal Geographic Data Committee which coordinates the development of the NationalSpatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) established in 1994 to service the geographic informationneeds of the nation (Figure 1). Within the European Union (EU) this role is performed by theINSPIRE geoportal (http://www.inspire-geoportal.eu/) established in May 2007. Theleadership role of government in the creation of national and international SDI is a result of theextensive coordination and costs involved, and the need to involve multiple stakeholdersbeyond government and private enterprise. In the US, the FGDC worked to establish spatialdata standards and framework, establish partnerships for data acquisition, and to broadlydisseminate the nation’s digital geographic information resources (http://www.fgdc.gov/).Through these initiatives, the NSDI has provided structure and consistency to a distributednetwork of producers and users of spatial data that includes the Geospatial One-Stop dataportal and the loosely structured distributed configuration of FGDC Clearinghouses based onthe Z39.50 protocol (ibid.). These distributed clearinghouse nodes enable metadata searchesand provide access to registered geographic information within the US and some internationaldata content (http://www.fgdc.gov/dataandservices). The FGDC endorses and supports thepromulgation of standards and, where no consensus on standards exists, the FGDC facilitatesand establishes those standards (http://www.fgdc.gov/standards). The NSDI Framework initiative, provides a data backbone to the national SDI througha collaborative partnering with other stakeholders in the creation and maintenance of sevencore data themes, ‘data you can trust’, that pervade most GIS applications in the US. The sevenframework themes include geodetic control, cadastral layers, orthoimagery, elevation,hydrography, administrative units, and transportation and represent ‘the best available datafor an area, certified, standardized, and described according to a common standard’ (FederalGeographic Data Committee, 1997). Contemporaneously, the FGDC also developedcommunities of thematic interest, the taxonomy of geospatial data as Cowen (2008) refers to it,that assisted with the formation of standards and exchange protocols. 10 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 1: Components of the NSDI (Taken from http://www.fgdc.gov/components). Together, the clearinghouse nodes and spatial data portals and the eGov sponsoredGeodata One Stop (GOS) provide gateways to valuable spatial data generated at all levels ofgovernment and commercial enterprise (http://www.data.gov). GOS, for example, providesaccess to clearinghouses, map services, downloadable spatial data, map files, and geographicservices that perform geoprocessing tasks such as place name searches, address matching, androuting. The USGS has been a major player in the US SDI through data sharing initiatives suchas the National Map (http://nationalmap.gov/) and National Atlas (http://nationalatlas.gov/)and more sector based data and information sharing such as the hazard focus of the GeospatialInformation Response Team (GIRT) (http://ngtoc.usgs.gov/girt/). The European Union’s (EU) Inspire and Eurogi programs similarly make relevant,quality spatial data and services from governmental, commercial and non-governmentalorganizations available to member countries (Craglia and Masser, 2003). The 2007 InspireDirective created an SDI for the EU that contained 34 spatial data themes and provided accessto the respective spatial data sets and services of member SDIs. Inspire represents a trans-boundary supra-SDI in that it enables the SDIs of member states to be shared based on bindingCommon Implementing Rules for metadata, data specification, network services, data andservice sharing, and for monitoring and reporting (http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/). Metadatalies at the heart of this system and enables the discovery and access to many distributeddatasets available within the EU communities. Inspire has several common principlescharacteristic of SDI in that its goal is to enable spatial data to be collected once and for it to bemaintained and kept by the primary stakeholders where it is most effective and from where itcan be shared and distributed to other parties seamlessly and transparently across countries,users, and applications. National and Global SDIs (GSDI) are now common and embedded in the spatialinfrastructure of many countries even though human nature intervenes in many of theseefforts to thwart, frustrate, and delay these coordinating activities (Moeller and Reichardt,2010; Rhind, 1997, 1999; Tulloch, 2008). Global SDIs reflect the emergent worldwide sharingof geographic data and services by international corporations, NGOs, and supra-governmental SDI, Communities and Social Media 11

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organizations. The United Nations SDI vision, for example, is for member countries to accessa Global SDI as a ‘comprehensive decentralized geospatial information framework thatfacilitates decision-making at various levels by enabling access, retrieval and dissemination ofgeospatial data and information in a rapid and secure way’ (http://www.ungiwg.org/unsdi.htm). As Moeller and Reichardt (2010) suggest, the focus on national security andterrorism, climate change, anthropogenic influences on global ecological systems, disasterresponse, and trans boundary social and environmental issues have given additional emphasisto the need for a coordinated global sharing of spatial data resources. The authors go on tosuggest, ‘The future promises a continued evolution of the role and nature of ….. SDIs… andthe promise of the realization of a global infrastructure with a set of policies, standards,practices, technologies, and relationships to facilitate the flow of geospatial data andinformation across government organizations and between all sectors and levels’ (Moeller andReichardt, 2010, 734). Such optimism, however, is challenged by revolutionary changes in the generation ofspatial data by citizens and groups using mobile and location intelligent devices coupled witha spatially enabled web. These ground-breaking changes promise considerable potential butthreaten to turn the already evolving role of traditional SDIs ‘on their head’.Volunteered Geographic Information, Participatory GIS, and citizensensorsWithin the field of GIS, the nature and source of geospatial data is changing rapidly fromestablished authenticated datasets to non-traditional sources. The spatial data model of the1980s and 1990s was of a pyramid style where the foundation was made up of governmentalsources (Figure 2). In the US the early digital foundation comprised the topographic maps ofthe United States Geological Services (USGS) and the demographic and census geography ofthe Census Bureau. The next level in the pyramid comprised data from private enterprise,state government and regional agencies. At the peak of the pyramid was the spatial datagarnered from local communities, local government and agencies, small groups, andindividuals. Driving this framework were issues of resources, expertise, and the availability ofa technologically capable bureaucracy seeking to meet administrative mandates andoperational requirements. Tulloch describes these forces as the ‘institutionalization of GIS’(Tulloch, 2008). The hierarchical pyramid structure is redolent of the SDI frameworksdiscussed above. In more recent years this pyramid structure is becoming increasinglyinverted, and the larger data contribution is now in the hands of local agencies, communities,and individuals. This inversion reflects both the diffusion of GIS technology and expertiseaway from the historically dominating role of major government agencies and privatecorporations and the evolution and widespread availability of cost effective geospatial datacapture technologies in the form of Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Location-Based Services(LPS), and digital sensor data from aerial photographs and satellite imagery. In the 1990s a series of debates revolved around the response of the GIS community toa socio-theoretic critique of GIS and its impact on society (Pickles, 1995). This GIS and Societydiscourse (subsequently known as Critical GIS) raised many issues concerning the nature andimpact of GIS on society and the differential access to the technology, expertise, and spatialdata that formed the three major legs of GIS (Weiner and Harris, 2007). Differential accessand the top-down expert nature of GIS, it was suggested, led to structural knowledge distortion 12 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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and the marginalization of communities unable to participate in the spatial revolution broughtabout by GIS. One response to these concerns was to incorporate ‘bottom-up’ local andcommunity knowledge into GIS to create what was essentially a Participatory GIS (PGIS).PGIS has gained considerable traction since then despite the difficulties of capturing localknowledge in all its qualitative and multiple media forms that can range from mental maps, tosketch-maps, to oral histories, to photographs and video imagery. The blending of thesequalitative forms within a quantitative and positivist technology such as GIS has contributed tomore recent initiatives in Qualitative GIS (Cope and Elwood, 2010). Facilitating PGIS has beenthe rise of Neogeography, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Web 2.0, and themapping capabilities of the Geospatial Web (Rouse et al, 2007). In addition, the ability formany people to now create geotagged information from mobile location intelligent devicesrepresents a paradigm shift in how we view, store, access and use geospatial data in the 21stcentury. Together, these technologies provide for not just a PGIS but a Participatory WorldWide Web.Figure 2: The changing sources of spatial data. The evolving role of citizens as creators of geotagged data and as major contributors tospatial data repositories on a scale never before envisioned, represents a watershed in spatialdata generation, spatial data processing, and SDIs. Volunteered Geographic Information(VGI) has entered the lexicon of GIS and SDI in dramatic fashion and has forced many in GISto rethink how to handle this new source of spatial data (Goodchild, 2007a). Using cheaphandheld GPS-enabled devices the layperson can now tag most data with a digital coordinate.Digital collection devices such as ‘smart’ cell phones, digital cameras, and digital audiorecorders ease the difficulty of collecting, transferring, and uploading spatial data for theseincreasingly feature embedded GPS and wireless connectivity. Even the least technology savvyperson can now upload geotagged images to a photo sharing site. Users can tag pieces ofinformation with latitude and longitude coordinates even without access to a GPS by using SDI, Communities and Social Media 13

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such online resources as address matching and sophisticated geocoders. Furthermore, thesedevices increasingly include critical metadata. Basic information such as collection time/date,collection device, and keyword tags can be added automatically. All of these technologicalbreakthroughs have happened simultaneously accompanied by a dramatic improvement insize and price-performance ratio. Storage costs are no longer an obstacle to data collection forthe average person and advances in cloud computing and storage have accelerated this trend.The cumulative impact of these User Generated Content (UGC) technologies is that more datais spatially tagged and stored than at any other time in history. Other technological breakthroughs have helped the evolution of VGI. The vision andtechnical advances behind Web 2.0 and Neogeography have given rise to a wealth of tools thathas placed the technology infrastructure in the hands of anyone owning a computer ora handheld device. The combination of VGI with these new generation imagery-richgeobrowsers and virtual globes, integrated through now widely available APIs, has markedlychanged the structured world of traditional GIS and SDI. VGI has already played importantroles contributing to fighting wild fires in California, in mapping and monitoring the Gulf oilspills, responding to the Haiti Earthquake, in responding to natural disasters such ashurricanes, in riot containment or ‘kettling’ in London, and in the so called ‘Arab Spring’ inMiddle Eastern countries. Neogeography and VGI represent a paradigm shift in spatial datageneration and online geobrowsers that collectively close the gap between data producers anddata consumers. However, the unofficial nature of VGI does not easily conform to thestandards, protocols, or verifiability of traditional ‘authenticated’ spatial data. In this respectVGI challenges the very core of SDI because, as Goodchild (2007a) suggests, VGI ‘asserts’geographic information content without citation, reference or any other supporting authority.Metadata is rarely generated or accompanies VGI though some geotagging devices willautomatically generate some metadata content. Furthermore, many geobrowsers such asGoogle Earth do not provide metadata about the spatial coverages they display (Goodchild,2007a). This mismatch between authenticated spatial data and unauthenticated VGI posesmajor challenges to traditional visions of SDI.Neogeography, the geospatial web and social mediaNeogeography represents the confluence of geographic knowledge production and populistcommunication and interaction technology. Vast arrays of technologies have contributeddirectly and indirectly to the rise of Neogeography. These technologies span platforms, humanmachine interfaces, and technical expertise. Together, these methodologies bring seriouschallenges to SDIs and traditional forms of data acquisition, analysis, and publication. Not onlyare VGI, crowdsourcing, and Neogeography protean and universal but the vision itself is toprovide a subversive alternative to GIS and to traditional SDI. The term Neogeography wasfirst introduced by Di-Ann Eisnor of Platial.com, who early-on envisioned that thetechnological developments occurring in Web 2.0 could support a range of socially networkedmapping platforms that would facilitate, create, share, and publish maps and informationabout places. Neogeography, is but one of several terms used to describe a new wave of geographicinformation generation and web mapping that loosely comprises a combination of MapMashups, Web 2.0, the Geospatial web, geospatial technologies, VGI, Web Mapping, MapApplication Programming Interfaces (Map APIs), crowd sourcing, and citizen sensors, not to 14 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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mention a host of other lesser technologies that all contribute to the same movement. Whatinitially appears to be a mishmash of concepts, data, and technologies, in reality contribute toa radical departure from traditional notions of spatial data processing, mapping, and GIS.Web mapping systems prior to 2004 provided limited opportunity for users to interact withonline preloaded maps. These early maps were restricted in size due to bandwidth issues andhad page layouts that tended to crowd out the actual map displayed (Haklay et al., 2008). Themaps tended to be steeped with the metaphors of GIS which required a degree of userfamiliarity with the terms and norms of this expert field. Largely as a result of technicalnecessity, these early web mapping systems were stove-piped through specific vendor’sproducts. Neogeography represents an important watershed to the GIS collective and to thebroader web community (Haklay et al., 2008). As the WWW experienced explosive growth inthe past decade, the availability of social media platforms with the capacity to ingest andhandle vast quantities of spatially embedded data and media have had a major impact. Flickrfor example permits users to upload georeferenced photographs from around the globe.OpenStreetMap is an open source initiative to create map data for areas lacking sources or toportray information excluded from existing spatial datasets. To that list of online repositoriescan be added YouTube, Facebook, Wikis’s, Blogs and many others. Turner (2006) took an adversarial perspective in proposing that the set of techniquesand tools in Neogeography reflected a response of the spatial community and general public towhat he perceived as the hegemony of GIS. The traditional concerns of the GIS scientist, suchas projections and advanced spatial analysis, Turner suggests, are not the concern ofNeogeographers. The central characteristics of Neogeography, he proposes, are threefold.First, “Neogeography is about people using and creating their own maps, on their own termsand by combining elements of an existing toolset” (Turner, 2006, 3). The creators andpublishers of this data seek to create maps for themselves, the primary consumers of this data,using the building blocks of Web 2.0 technologies. Turner’s second characteristic ofNeogeography is the desire of users to share locational information with friends and visitorsthat helps shape context, and understanding ‘through the knowledge of place’ (Turner, 2006,3). The emphasis on sharing between ‘equals’, reinforces the vision and implementation ofNeogeography as a grassroots, plebian, and popular movement. The focus on the layperson isin stark contrast and the antithesis to the expert, professional, specialized, almost aristocratic,nature of GIS as it has evolved to date. Finally, in contrast to the claimed lackluster nature ofGIS, Turner suggests ‘Neogeography is fun’ because of its accessibility to the amateur and theuse of mashups that give personal meaning and context to space, and place (Turner, 2006, 3). Neogeography is not without sophisticated technologies that are generally encapsulatedfrom the general user (Hakley, 2010). Central to the creation of Mashups that heavily underpinNeogeography, are the Web 2.0 technologies that allow for more expressive and interactiveInternet applications. Buttressed by the expansion of broadband and wireless access, intensivefoundation applications such as Cascading Style Sheets and Javascript combined in the AJAXmodel (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), plugin technology such as Macromedia/Adobe’sFlash, and Microsoft’s ASP and .NET, enabled developers to create content rich applicationsthat could mimic the interactivity of traditional desktop applications. This transformation ofthe Web from static screens of text and graphics to the transport mechanism it is today, theether through which interactivity happens, has contributed to the manifestation of the ‘socialweb’ and User Generated Content (UGC). Central to this transformation has been the change SDI, Communities and Social Media 15

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in focus from products based upon a function, such as a piece of software, to the provision ofservices associated with the data. Thus blogging platforms such as Wordpress or Typepadprovided services allowing users to write, produce, and publish their own content. YouTube,launched in 2005, enabled users to upload user created videos to a central hub for generalviewing. Social media sites such as MySpace (2003) and Facebook (2004) provided open spacesenabling users to easily publish information concerning their interests and hobbies. The photosharing site Flickr launched in 2005 and the microblogging site Twitter came shortly after in2006 and each required a few years to reach critical social mass sufficient to generate UGCuseful to data integrators. This explosion of user created data prompted the development ofplatforms and tools that enable users to upload, edit, and share pieces of information and tolink these pools of information to a greater whole. Importantly, amateur developers were given access to this wealth of user createdinformation via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and Mashups. The term Mashuporiginates in the music industry where two pieces of music are synched and mixed together tocreate a combined piece. In similar fashion, Mashups under Neogeography combine two ormore streams of seemingly disconnected data into a single product. In Web 2.0, the first majorimplementation of a Mashup was the well-known Google Maps. Google Maps launched in2005 provided the general public with access to a mapping platform in which users couldembed push-pins representing points of interest and containing information and links. Earlyattempts to reverse engineer Google’s method of creating pushpin locations led Google toquickly publish an API that allowed users to access their mapping technology. Developersquickly added these capabilities to their own products and heralded an explosion in Mashupsand the birth of the Neogeography movement. One early drawback to Mashup implementations was the reliance on the developer toaccess to their own source of information. Data holders quickly realized they were incapable ofproviding every method desired to access their information and the power of produced datacould best be realized through universal access to the information, albeit with limitedutilization. Increasingly, data holders published APIs to their data holdings for use by Mashupdevelopers. Simultaneously, the need for Mashup developers to possess advanced technicalskills was reduced as database holders provided easy to use, non-technical methods for users toshare information – the beginnings of the social media explosion of the past five years. Today the breadth and depth of information shared between social media data users isstaggering. As of 2010, Flickr held over five billion photos and YouTube over 13 billion videos.Facebook has over 800 million active users who interact with over 900 million objects. Twittercurrently generates an average of 140 million ‘tweets’ per day. Users have gravitated to thesesites in record numbers to produce and share billions of bits of information – much of it spatialin nature. The APIs for each of these sites allows developers to mine that information ina variety of forms from topical to temporal, and critically the spatial. How to utilize the valueof VGI and how integrate it within SDIs represents a major challenge to the establishedgeospatial community.Challenges and OpportunitiesThe fusion of VGI, social media, Neogeography, and Web 2.0 technologies representsa paradigm shift in how spatial data is generated, shared, and distributed. It is also a major 16 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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challenge as to how the framers of SDIs respond to these revolutionary changes. Goodchild(2007a, 2) identifies the basic elements of that challenge: ‘The widespread engagement of largenumbers of private citizens, often with little in the way of formal qualifications, in the creationof geographic information, a function that for centuries has been reserved to official agencies.They are largely untrained and their actions are almost always voluntary, and the results mayor may not be accurate.’ The distinction between ‘expert’ created data and the non-expertlayperson volunteered spatial data is critical. The ability for the layperson to now create largequantities of spatial data and to store, retrieve, share, and utilize that data has been remarkablefor the breath-taking for the breadth and rate of uptake of these capabilities. The combinationof a motivated amateur, easily created UGC, and accessible Web 2.0 tools has led to anexplosion in Neogeography and contributed in no small measure to the makings ofa grassroots Digital Earth. The mix of traditional SDI and VGI sit uncomfortably together. Both stem from verydifferent philosophical and methodological approaches to data collection and distribution.Data accessed through SDI is organized into definable and digestible units to facilitate thetransfer of information between subsystems. SDI data is housed in central locations witharchival backup, and is transferred through legacy data methods such as direct websitedownload, the venerable file transfer protocol (FTP), or even the so called ‘sneaker net’ oftrading physical media. VGI, however, is the polar opposite in that data is seen as a stream ofinformation, not as a defined collection. Neogeography systems are interrogated on an ad-hocbasis, and VGI content is located in a cloud-like structure where users have little knowledge of,or even care about, the exact location of the information. VGI users are adept at identifyingwho produces the data but not who houses the data. APIs are the universal method forinterrogating and distributing VGI and linking Neogeography and the requirement for data‘download’ is rare. APIs will need to evolve to provide virtual interfaces for the non-programming user of VGI and it is likely that SDIs and data stores will need to be retro-fashioned into API interrogation systems to ease the integration of past and future data sets. The confluence of VGI and Neogeography allows for the creation of a relatively newtype of knowledge environment – that of social spatial knowledge. Social knowledgegeneration leverages the power of crowd sourcing to generate millions of data points which canbe combined, reconfigured, and redistributed at will. Social knowledge generation presentsa vastly different model than traditional GIScience approaches. This social knowledgeenvironment, in which the whole is greater than the sum of its many parts, has unlimitedpotential to provide a multitude of pathways to reassemble the data and to generate new formsof knowledge. National-centric or global SDIs will likely remain the bedrock and framework uponwhich GIS and Neogeography continue to be superimposed. It is possible to speculate thatthese SDI will evolve to incorporate some elements of VGI. Even though the benefits ofNeogeography are not dependent upon an ‘authenticated’ view of the world, the existence ofSDI provides a base against which Neogeography can be contrasted, compared, and validated.Indeed, Grossner and Glennon (1999) suggest that visions for a Digital Earth must containboth comprehensive level I spatial thematic layers that are expertly reviewed along with levelIII VGI data submitted by the non-expert masses. This combination of authenticated and non-authenticated data contributes to a patchwork of data stitched together to form a multi-authored, multi-source, holistic map. SDI, Communities and Social Media 17

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The value of Neogeography and social knowledge to individual users, researchers,business, communities, government, and the public at large, supported as it is by the openaccess provided by the WWW, is considerable. Furthermore, Neogeography can leveragethese benefits without incurring the considerable hardware, software, database, andhumanware investments required by GIS. Many of the system tools can be accessed freelythrough open source software and the ability of APIs to push the computing demands onto theservices providing the API is a major advantage. VGI greatly reduces the cost of dataacquisition by exploiting existing data streams and existing SDIs. Furthermore, the near real-time capability of VGI can capture up-to-date information and reflect trending and competingaccounts of space and events. Neogeography can also be purposely agnostic in that it is notdirectly controlled by corporations or government though copyright. Not least, Neogeographycan augment and enhance the data and knowledge gaps left by official entities pursuing theirown mandates and goals. Several instances of the value of Neogeography can be found inemergency management and response, as well as political protest movements. However, Neogeography comes with a number of significant challenges to SDIs andmainstream GIS. A trinity of issues concerning verifiability, validity, and privacy confrontSDIs and pervade spatial data usage. By its very nature and because VGI is rarely accompaniedby the hallmark signatures of ‘official’ data in terms of authentication and metadata that are socentral to the functioning of SDI, VGI is problematic to traditional SDI. SDI derives much ofits power and utility from the inherent data standards, verifiability, validity, and privacycontrols that are the foundation of the systems. Data in SDIs is owned, maintained, operated,distributed, and updated through known entities with defined roles and responsibilities. Thedata has invariably been created for a defined purpose and been evaluated for appropriate usewithin an agency’s defined mission. SDI data consumers can be confident in the specifiedaccuracy, verifiability, and validity of a given piece of data not because it is inherently accurate,valid, or verified, but because the metadata documents the degree to which it is inaccurate,invalid, and unverified. This is the key to the existence of metadata for metadata details thelimitations under which certain data can be effectively used (Goodchild, 2007b). Metadataprovides users with the ability to assess what can reasonably be claimed given any combinationof data and analysis. VGI rarely has any form of metadata recognizable to the GIS expert. Indeed, the basicworkflow of Neogeography and VGI makes metadata collection difficult at best for part of thepower of such methods lies in their ease of generation and use by citizen sensors. Taking timeto provide metadata raises the entry barrier and acts as a deterrent to participation. Althoughmetadata might be of critical value to other consumers of VGI, the benefits to the data creatorare not immediate but deferred and most likely secondary to the needs of that volunteer. It islike family members inheriting photographs from former family generations who, because theywere cognizant of the names, times, and places of the photographs, never recorded suchinformation or metadata to help inform future generations. Furthermore, while Neogeographyis spoken about in a collective sense, the underlying use is invariably individualistic and thetechnologies and processes inherent in Neogeography differ from system to system.Neogeography systems are invariably private enterprises motivated by the search for profit.A variety of license agreements exist and although most are offered gratis to users, restrictionson data use can be imposed at will by the vendors. Although the information is volunteered byusers, nearly every system features clauses that give the vendor ultimate exclusive rights to the 18 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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information. Open source systems have sought to replicate some systems and retain access todata for public consumption, alteration, and replication but no such claim is true for the dataitself. Importantly, there is no expectation or promise to keep information streams availableand accessible in perpetuity. A number of possible trajectories might be identified as valuable approaches to whatseems to be an intractable SDI data problem. Given the mismatch between SDIs and VGI, it isinteresting to speculate on methods for integrating the two into a unified SDI. Some VGIdevices and Neoeography methods have metadata tags that would contribute as least part-wayto SDI data standards. Thus Flickr will retain photography metadata concerning the date theimage was captured, its location if geotagged, the focal length and much else. The ability formany devices to automatically capture and tag bits of information with technical metadata isincreasingly becoming the norm. Some systems even feature mechanisms to translate theirproprietary information into file formats that are more easily read by a variety of software,such as XML. The increasing power of computers also allows for information tagging after thefact. By situating a piece of data within a greater context, either through user input or throughcomparisons to a greater whole, forms of metadata can be ‘reverse engineered’ for information.For example, the practice of superimposing an old photo on top of a current photo of the sameplace can provide information concerning the older photo. Technologies that can searchphotos for common elements, such as faces, can provide a potential list of elements for a photoafter the fact. Neogeography can combine streams of information to create elements ofmetadata. While one technology such as Twitter may have minimal metadata, combininga Tweet with a photo of the same event posted on Flickr may yield metadata for both. Thusa variety of metadata methods presents opportunities for advancing VGI within SDI. At the same time that metadata might be created to accompany VGI, it is likely thatexpectations in metadata standards, which traditionally can be exhaustive and sometimesintimidatingly so, will also change. In many respects use of the Dublin Core metadata criteriaindicates already the willingness of spatial data users to reduce the completeness of metadata.While it is preferable to collect as much metadata as possible, the advent of Neogeographyprovides opportunity for negotiating the completeness of these standards to accommodate datawith less than complete metadata. The lack of metadata documentation does not negate theutility of VGI though SDI may have to accommodate less stringent metadata standards withconcomitant reduction in the ability to search for and utilize VGI. In similar manner, consumers must likewise be open to the implications of lessenedverifiability, validity, and accuracy of VGI spatial data. While it should not be assumed thatVGI is unverifiable, inaccurate and therefore unusable, the required validity and accuracy ofspatial data is directly related to its intended use. VGI may not be appropriate for all uses, yetit can be extremely valuable for some. It is data user who must ultimately judge theappropriateness of VGI for any given use though it is problematic that this evaluation will needto be frequent if not continuous. The harsh reality is that VGI data consumers will have toadjust procedures and expectations to allow for a greater degree of uncertainty within theirwork.ConclusionNeogeography and VGI have evolved rapidly over the last half decade. They have been SDI, Communities and Social Media 19

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intertwined within greater technological and Web 2.0 evolutions. The explosion of VGI hasgiven Neogeography important pillars on which to build and contributed to new forms ofsocial knowledge creation. Each of these changes has brought about enormous potentialbenefits to a host of communities, many of whom have been under represented in traditionalGIScience. Neogeography builds a personal understanding of space and place by combiningspatial and non-spatial information sources through accessible and extendable commontechnologies primarily for the benefit of the spatial non-expert. Yet Neogeography brings withit many challenges to the geospatial community which need to be addressed. Local knowledgeis simply too vast and too valuable to be ignored by SDIs. Progressively more data is beingproduced at the local level for local purposes and it falls upon national SDIs to stitch these bitsof data together. Neogeography heightens these trends. If, as Craglia suggests, SDI isa framework of data, technology, policies, standards, and human resources necessary tofacilitate the sharing and using of spatial information, then as the many forms of VGI andNeogeography evolve so too will SDI have to change to accommodate and utilize the strengthsof such data while preserving the integrity of traditional authenticated spatial data.As Goodchild (2007a, 10) observes, passive technological sensors certainly have their place,but a network of over 6 billion human sensors creates a powerful intelligent synthesizer andinterpreter of local information that SDIs cannot afford to ignore.ReferencesCope, M. and Elwood, S. (2010) Qualitative GIS: a mixed methods approach, Sage Publications.Cowen, D. J. (2008) The availability of geographic data: the current technical and institutional environment, in The handbook of Geographic Information Science, (eds) J. P. Wilson and A. S. Fotheringham, Blackwell, MA pp. 11-34.Craglia, M. (2007) SDI and VGI: parallel universes? Workshop on Volunteered Geographic Information, December 13-14, 2007. http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/vgi/docs/present/Craglia_vgi.pdfCraglia, M. and Masser, I. (2003) Access to geographic information: a European perspective, URISA Journal 15, 1, 51-59.DiNucci, Darcy (1999). "Fragmented Future". Print 53 (4): 32.Federal Geographic Data Committee (1997) Framework: introduction and guide, National Spatial Data Infrastructure, USGS, VA.Goodchild, M. F. (2007a) Citizens as Sensors: The World of Volunteered Geography, http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/vgi/docs/position/Goodchild_VGI2007.pdfGoodchild, M. F. (2007b) Citizens as Sensors: The World of Volunteered Geography. Workshop on Volunteered Geographic Information, December 13-14, 2007. http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/vgi/Grossner, K. and A. Glennon. (1999) “Volunteered Geographic Information: Level III of a Digital Earth System”. Workshop on Volunteered Geographic Information, December 13-14, 2007. http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/projects/vgi/.Guptill, S. C. (1999) Metadata and data catalogs, in (eds) P. A. Longley, M. F. Goodchild, D. J. Maguire, D. W. Rhind, Geographical Information Systems, Wiley, New York, pp. 677-692.Hakley, M. (2010) Interacting with Geospatial Technologies, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester.Haklay, M., A. Singleton, C. Parker. “Web Mapping 2.0: The Neogeography of the GeoWeb”. Geography Compass. 2/6, 2008. Pgs. 2011-2039.Kuhn, W. (2005) Introduction to Spatial Data Infrastructures, online presentation at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2697206/Introduction-to-Spatial--Data-Infrastructures (accessed Sep 2011).Moeller, J. J. and Reichardt, M. E. (2010) National, International, and Global activities in Geospatial 20 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Using of social networking tools in the SDI-EDU projectfor spreading of awareness about how to build Spatial DataInfrastructureKarel Janecka1, Karel Charvat2, Andris Dzerve3, Raitis Berzins33 University of West Bohemia2 Help Service Remote Sensing3 Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of LatviaIntroductionThe European INSPIRE Directive adopted in March 2006 defines the standards for futureEuropean Spatial Data Infrastructure. With implementation of INSPIRE initiative there will bestrong need for capacity building and transfer of experience among architects, spatial planners,European Regions and municipalities, etc. The main concept of building of Spatial DataInfrastructure (SDI) is to move spatial data into web environment and to use web services forbuilding network of distributed geoportals. The SDI-EDU project (full name “SDI-EDU forregional and urban planning”) aims to transfer experience from European research projectsdealing with building of SDI and spatial planning towards the end users. The focus is also onsocial networks as one of the main dissemination and communication tool. The main aim ofthis activity is to communicate (to give information and to retrieve some feedback) the SDI-EDU development through the SDI-EDU educational geoportal. The retrieved feedback shouldserve as input information for further development.The SDI-EDU projectThe SDI-EDU project belongs to the framework of the Leonardo da Vinci Lifelong LearningProgramme. In particular it is a multilateral project – transfer of innovations. The SDI-EDUproject started on October 1st, 2009 and its duration is 24 months. The keywords for thepresented project are ‘SDI’ as Spatial Data Infrastructure and ‘EDU’ as an Education. Within the framework of the SDI-EDU project we intend to achieve a high level ofcooperation between 10 partners involved in this project (Figure 3). The SDI-EDU projectaims to transfer former and actual experience from EU research projects dealing with buildingof SDI and spatial planning like HUMBOLDT, NATURNET REDIME or PLAN4ALL towardsplanners in European regions and municipalities. Due to the INSPIRE Directive and its implementation each Member State has totranspose the INSPIRE Directive into its national legislation and to develop the interoperableservices allowing the management and sharing of spatial data. There will be also requirementson spatial planning to accept the implementation rules of INSPIRE Directive. For two years,SDI-EDU supports training of responsible people to set up and use some of these servicesaccording to the specific problems of the EU regions on local and regional level. Thus theproject will let the regions participate actively in the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive. The European regions, provinces and municipalities will use the results of SDI-EDU topromote their cultural and socio-economic heritage and to find the Spatial Data Infrastructure 22 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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useful to the regular management of their territories. The extent of the SDI-EDU projectconsortium proves the utility and it will certainly lead to a larger dissemination of its results inall Member States. The SDI-EDU geoportal will become the bridge joining all European portalswith the ambition to exchange the knowledge between all the regional identities. To attain theSDI-EDU objectives all participating regions will acquire an equal level of understanding, skillsand use of spatial data infrastructures. They will be able to implement particular and specificapplications for the area of their interest with respecting the INSPIRE Directive which iscurrently in the implementation phase.Figure 3: The network of partners in SDI-EDU The topics for education are as follows: • Political consequences of INSPIRE on both local and regional level (in relation to spatial planning) • INSPIRE requirements on local and regional level from the technological point of view • The examples of solutions for SDI building (commercial x open source) • INSPIRE, Metadata & spatial planning • INSPIRE, Spatial data & spatial planning • INSPIRE Networking architecture • Intellectual property rights & Spatial data infrastructures • Monitoring obligation • Practical examples (how to) SDI, Communities and Social Media 23

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The above mentioned topics will be available for educational purposes on the SDI-EDUproject’s educational geoportal in the user friendly form.Role of communities in building of Spatial Data InfrastructureThere are generally three ways how to build SDI (Figure 4, Charvat 2010). The first possibleway of building of SDI is SDI build by public administration – in Europe public based SDI ismainly supported by INSPIRE initiative. There are defined rules for data and life cycle. Thismeans that this data are acquired every day, week, month, year … and it is known when thisdata was made, who is author etc. Data are often managed together with metadata. Next way are commercial public portals like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other portalsin this group. It is used every day by ordinary users who are looking for some information. Thisdata can’t be often used for building of local or regional SDI due the license issue but there arealso missing information as a property or time of making of data.Figure 4: Possible ways of SDI building The third alternatives are voluntary or online communities. As the example ofOpenStreetMap shows, nowadays citizens have an interest in sharing their findings withina community. Therefore, the architecture should foresee collaboration possibilities for peoplewho are not employed by environmental agencies. Data are eventually reported by the generalpublic needs to be checked and validated before it may be published. What is sometimeproblem are specific data models and formats. This made their usage sometime difficult fornon specialist. 24 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 5: Many possible sources of information accessible via one access point This is why we try to promote our 4th way of SDI building. The basic idea is to useadvantages of standardisation efforts like INSPIRE or OGC and combine this effort with both,commercial initiatives and also and mainly with support for voluntary initiative. The goal is tobring all these possibilities nearest to people, in form, which is easy accessible (Figure 5) andunderstandable. Our idea is that future solution has to support integration of spatial and nonspatial information.Figure 6: Scheme of the Spider Net paradigm SDI, Communities and Social Media 25

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What we would like also promote is to shift from the pyramid paradigm, which is oftenmentioned in the relation to building of Global SDI to paradigm of Spider Net (Figure 6). Withour concept also used in the SDI-EDU project we prefer system of distributed data sources,where every provider could decide about accessibility of his data against concept of cloudcomputing, where one organisation is managing all information. The idea is not againstoutsourcing of data or services or using of external services, but to have control about datafrom the side of data holders. For implementation of this concept, we suggest ideas ofGeoportal4everybody. GeoPortal4Everybody is a concept, which is based on the next principles: • Independent components • Composition according to user requirements • Based on SOA • Possibility to integrate with other resources • Maximum openness • Open Source • Open Standards • Extension to non-GIS community • Open Search • Administration of other (non-spatial) data sourcesSDI-EDU educational geoportalThe SDI-EDU portal is designed and implemented as a virtual database based on socialnetworks principles of the Geoportal4everybody and principle of web services using URM(Dzerve et al. 2010). It integrates different technologies like GIS, e-learning, multimedia, andvirtual reality. Important part is integration of social networking tools. These services are notimplemented on SDI-EDU portal directly but are implemented as virtual services on differentplaces in Europe. The access is guaranteed through a single access point at http://portal.sdi-edu.zcu.cz (Figure 7).Figure 7: The main page of the SDI-EDU educational geoportal 26 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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The tools implemented in the training platform for education are as follows: • SimpleCMS tools • Uniform Resource Management including: ◦ MICKA, ◦ HSlayers, ◦ PyWPS, ◦ Geohosting including: ▪ DataMan, ▪ MapMan, ▪ Metadata extractor, • BizBiz. As external applications could be used by different desktop GIS tools, main support ineducation will be for Janitor and Topol, but these tools are not direct part of solution, they aremore related to educational content. The portal is implemented with initial menu and content,all could be later updated by project team. Selected part will be also possible modified byexternal users.SimpleCMS Content Management SystemSystem SimpleCMS Content management system (Figure 8) is focused on usability andsimplicity for end users on their mind (Dzerve et al. 2010). Main advantage in comparison withother CMS systems is simple approach for solving complex tasks, where on the code side theclarity and security of the implementation is the main target. The using of SimpleCMS ContentManagement allows exploiting the potential coming from social networks. The SimpleCMSprovides access to the following features and/or provides access to the following options: • Menu - User can define any menus and submenus. Any menu or submenu can be external link (link pointing to any place on WWW and not into the CMS itself), where the redirected functionality is implemented and users can return back to the CMS using visible controls. It supports inserting different Web applications into web pages for training purposes. Any menu can be set as Homepage, where of course only one Homepage per SimpleCMS instance is possible. Menu ranking can be reordered in any way to best fit any updates that might be required during usage. SDI, Communities and Social Media 27

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Figure 8: Working with map using SimpleCMS • Article - Content holders are holding the data we want to publish. As regular articles they are composed from the “perex” and the content itself. Using nice WYSIWYG editor provides nice user experience to beginners. Support for full inline html can please any person wanting to do more fine grained look of desired article. Editor allows inserting of multimedia content like videos, photos, etc. There is a special support for inserting of dynamic maps, presentation from SlideShare, YouTube and other social networks for sharing content. Each article can be enhanced by adding various file attachments, which will be described later. • Message - Each menu can be accompanied by the message item, which in reality is simplified article that contains just one view on short text. That does not implement detailed view so it could be described as “perex” only. Since the message(s) is always on top over the articles they can be best used as the menu description. Also here is used the some WISIWIG editor, with full functionality like in articles. • RSS - The CMS supports including any RSS feeds from remote sites. This allows nice and handy way of promotion for our/friendly services that we want our consumer to know about. • Translations - The controls of the CMS can be translated into various languages where the gettext localisation system is used, which provides easy translations to most known languages and possibility to use already created vocabularies from any other open- source project, which makes translating work really simple. • Remote articles promotion - Each menu in the CMS setup has automatically generated RSS feed for grabs to others. Also optional connectivity to Posterous is possible, so your web presentation can be presented on all various social networking sites (for example Facebook). 28 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Uniform Resource ManagerUniform Resource Management provides a framework in which communities can shareinformation and knowledge through their description, which is easy understandable inside ofthe community (Dzerve et al. 2010). In order to effectively share information and knowledge,there is a standardized schema, which supports uniform description of information andknowledge including common vocabularies. A schema defines the meaning, characteristics,and relationships of a set of properties, and this may include constraints on potential valuesand the inheritance of properties from other schemas. The schema specification language isa declarative representation language influenced by ideas from knowledge representation (e.g.semantic nets, frames, predicate logic) as well as database schema specification languages andgraphic data models. The context characterizes any information, knowledge and observation.Context strongly influences the way how the information will be used. There exist differentdefinitions of context. The important issues for the context are: • an identity of an entity, • a profile of an entity, • a spatial information, • a temporal information, • an environmental information, • a social relation, • resources that are nearby, • an availability of resources. Many context attributes characterize the environmental information or knowledge.From the context point of view, the information or knowledge could be divided into differentparties: • information or knowledge provider i.e. a party supplying the resource, • custodian accepts accountability and responsibility for the resources and ensures appropriate care and maintenance of the resource, • owner of the resource, • user, who uses the resource, • distributor who distributes the resource, • originator who created the resource, • point of Contact to be contacted for acquiring knowledge about or acquisition of the resource, • principal investigator responsible for gathering information and conducting research, SDI, Communities and Social Media 29

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• processor who has processed the data in a manner such that the original resource has been modified, • publisher, i.e. party who published the resource, • author, i.e. party who authored the resource. Geoportal is a place which allows users to search, view, examine and share spatial andnon-spatial data (Figure 9).Figure 9: Using of MICKA for searching metadata records Geoportal is based on interoperability standards (OGC, W3C, OASIS, ISO) which areconnected to other resources on web and helps to create distributed structure of informationand knowledge based on spatial localisation. Geoportal should not be closed central storage ofspatial data without possibility of redistribution of this data. Geoportal should not be a solutionthat doesnt support searching of data and information and their viewing and using by externalsources.BizBiz educational toolThe last part of the SDI-EDU project’s educational geoportal is the BizBiz tool (Dzerve et al.2010). BizBiz is a learning video tool for SDI-EDU training platform. It is integrated into URMportal. BizBiz (Figure 10) is a web browser based e-conference collaboration and learning toolwhich allows conference members to watch live video enabled presentations remotely fromtheir computers. It does not require users to install special software apart from modern webbrowser and java virtual environment and most of the configuration connected with webcamand screencast is done automatically. Additional equipment is headphones, optionallywebcam. 30 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 10: BizBiz main page BizBiz focuses on providing a learning platform for spatial planning and GIS but can beused also in other applications. BizBiz is free of charge and published under open source(Affero GPL) licence in source forge.SDI-EDU on social networksWeb 2.0 applications include blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, tagging, social network sites(e.g. Facebook – Figure 11, MySpace), search engines and others. The focus of the SDI-EDUproject is on social network sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) as one of the main dissemination andcommunication tool. The main aim of this activity is to communicate (to give information andto retrieve some feedback) about the SDI-EDU developments through the SDI-EDU geoportal.This will enable to induce discussion about certain topics. News will be posted by the project partners and will be automatically distributed toa number of selected communities – social network sites. Feedback from these social networksites will be retrieved using RSS and answered again from the central point.Figure 11: SDI-EDU on Facebook SDI, Communities and Social Media 31

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This approach will allow involving other communities from one place without having toenter each community. Users of various social network sites can read entries and commentthrough their respective communities and don’t have to register elsewhere. The retrievedfeedback should serve as input information for further developments.ConclusionThe tools of SDI-EDU training platform are approved and ready for practical use in the SDI-EDU educational geoportal. This portal (training platform) includes social networking toolsincluding virtual libraries, educational materials, content sharing tools, connection to socialnetworks and application integrator. Next, this platform consists of Uniform ResourceManager and the BizBiz video lecture tool where multilinguality plays an important role ina case when partners share the same information which has to be presented in their nativelanguages. The SDI-EDU educational geoportal is an entry point for any news (newdevelopment, problematic topics, progress in the project, etc.). The principles and using ofsocial networking tools are helping to reach the success of the project.ReferencesCharvat Karel, PORTAL NATURNET – Role of the communities in building of Spatial Data, Available from: <http://www.naturnet.org/>. [11 November 2010].Dzerve, A, Berzins, R, Janecka, K & Charvat, K 2010, SDI-EDU – Training Environment Implementation, Available from: <http://sdi-edu.zcu.cz>. [8 November 2010]. 32 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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User-Generated Spatial Content and the Need for SDIStandardsSteven Ramage, Mark ReichardtOpen Geospatial Consortium (OGC)IntroductionThe geospatial technologies industry and cooperative spatial data infrastructure programsworldwide provide governments, local communities, non-governmental organizations,businesses, the academic community and citizens with increasingly useful tools to solve a widerange of problems. In the last 3-5 years mobile devices and easy-to-use web services have added a newdimension to this progress. Previously, most mapping and spatial data infrastructuredevelopment was performed by or for governments. Today, information services used by allsectors of society are becoming spatially enabled and are contributing to the development ofthe global spatial data infrastructure. Citizens with hand-held devices incorporating phones,cameras, GPS, maps and location services, and also internet-connected sensors embedded inhomes, offices, stores, and vehicles are contributing location and descriptive data. The volume and importance of user-generated geospatial content has grown rapidly inthese last years, and this growth poses important technical, social, and institutional challenges.The democratization of spatial data is helping us to realize spatially enabled societies. In thispaper we examine the associated opportunities, as well as the challenges, and offer generalapproaches to addressing them through OGC standards.Part 1"Geoweb" is a relatively new term encompassing or in some cases referring to the same thingsas democratization of spatial data and services. This includes user-generated spatial content,Volunteered Geospatial Information, neo-geography, neo-SDI, SDI 2.0, geospatial mass-market, geo-lite, crowd-sourced geospatial data, web mapping, map browsers, geoweb start-upcompanies, open source and open data initiatives, location-enabled social networking services,geogames, and geospatial mash-ups. SDI managers need to understand and respond to the geoweb because it offers newopportunities to meet SDI objectives, and also because it represents a set of disruptivetechnologies that are likely to destabilize parts of some SDI programs. In the long run, thegeoweb is a positive development. As OGC’s chief technology officer, Dr. Carl Reed, wrote in the OGC News, January2007: “The Geospatial Web is about the complete integration and use of location at all levels ofthe internet and the web. This integration will often be invisible to the user. But at the end ofthe day, the ubiquitous permeation of location into the infrastructure of the internet and theweb is being built on standards.” We believe the SDI vision and mission that governments have embraced will ultimatelybenefit from today’s democratization of spatial data and services. All sectors of society are SDI, Communities and Social Media 33

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becoming spatially enabled and are contributing to the development of the global spatial datainfrastructure. But to exploit the capabilities of new devices, services and social networks, andto make the growing amount of volunteered or automatically collected data accessible anduseful, SDI managers and the OGC, too, need to learn and adapt.Part 2. Web 1.0 was about publishing. Web 2.0 is about participation.Web 3.0 is coming.SDI 1.0 was mainly about governments at all levels of jurisdiction in a nation coordinatingtheir data collection and management efforts in order to be efficient and to maximize thereturn on their collective investment. If Web 1.0 was about publishing, SDI 1.0 was about datasharing, which is one kind of publishing. Web services using OGC-compliant standardinterfaces and encodings didnt necessarily lead organizations to abandon this publishingparadigm. SDI 2.0 introduces a different paradigm. It is instructive to read the Wikipedia entry forWeb 2.0 with geospatial data in mind. That entry begins with this paragraph: The term "Web 2.0" (2004–present) is commonly associated with web applications thatfacilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, andcollaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities,hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs,mashups, and folksonomies. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or tochange website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to thepassive viewing of information that is provided to them.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0) Wikipedia is itself, of course, a Web 2.0 exemplar, a remarkably valuable source ofinformation created almost entirely by volunteer contributors around the world. Geospatial information is becoming an integral part of the rapidly expanding andbranching Information and Communication Technology (ICT) world, a world in whichbillions of people, not merely hundreds of thousands, are participating as producers and usersof geospatial information (Johnson 2009). Increasingly, many kinds of geospatial data are freeor low cost, often because people can collect data almost effortlessly in their daily activities bymeans of location-aware, internet-connected devices. And the costs of storing, processing,communicating and using the data keep falling. Considering these economic factors,government SDI managers would be neglecting their mission if they failed to consider how SDI2.0 figures into calculations of return on investment. At the same time, it would be a serious mistake to believe that what we are calling SDI2.0 can replace everything we have been calling SDI. Also, it would be a mistake to assume thatSDI 1.0 and SDI 2.0 will forever be seen as distinct categories. The larger trend to note is thatgeospatial data is becoming just another data type, an integral part of the rapidly expandingand branching ICT world. And geotechnologies are becoming just another category of tools ondecision makers’ desktops. This trend will ultimately obviate the need for distinguishingbetween SDI 1.0 and SDI 2.0. While we are still considering the usefulness of SDI 2.0, we should also be cognizant of 34 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Web 3.0, and where and how geospatial fits in the next generation of web development. Morethan a year ago, Jessi Hempel wrote about Web 3.0 for FORTUNE Magazine. In the conclusionof her article she highlighted the inclusion of geospatial tools and services: But todays Web 2.0 companies may find themselves transformed or even eclipsed byyet another wave of web innovators. New companies are cropping up to expand the utility ofthe web, creating location-based services and financial payment systems that can be boltedonto existing sites. Often bootstrapped, they are frequently profitable and may get acquiredquickly. Even in todays tough environment, these upstarts are the ones raising money andtrying to score a life- or business-altering hit. Welcome to Web 3.0.Part 3. Revisiting governments roleMuch has been written about the differences and apparent divide between this new world ofgeoweb users and developers and the old world of academic, corporate and government usersand developers of geospatial technologies. At conferences and in magazines and blogs, thereare lively debates about: • The value of government data creation and curation versus geospatial data in the context of “Raw data now!” (Berners-Lee 2009), which means, in the extreme case, that government should make all of its data available on an FTP server and let the public and the market decide how it should be packaged, served, used and improved. • Catalogs and metadata (requiring expertise) versus search engines, tags and user ratings that anyone can use. • Requirements for transparency and openness versus requirements for privacy, intellectual property protection and security (Francica 2009). • Costs of maintaining national datasets versus costs of collecting data when and where its needed, as well as the data quality challenges related to currency and consistency. The role of government is central in many of these discussions. National SDIs (NSDIs)have their origins in a pre-web world and are challenged by peoples demands for morecommunity involvement. NSDIs typically first collect data through broad national collectionefforts, and then seek users of the content they provide. Increasingly, NSDI organizations areseeking involvement of local users in creating or managing the content, and they are lessfocused on national coverages. This trend is strengthened by community efforts andparticipatory (usually ad-supported) websites such as OpenStreetMap that typically depend onthe involvement of community-oriented data providers and developers. Both public sectoragencies (such as keepers of mass transit schedules) and private sector companies (such asOpenStreetMap) are inclined to offer data in flexible ways, providing options for developersthrough open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and lightweight, open source toolsand components. In traditional SDIs, governments sponsor and lead SDI efforts. In contrast, most newgeoweb infrastructure projects such as OpenStreetMap are started by an individual developeror a small team. They create a capability that attracts users and other developers, and as theproject grows it may attract capital of various kinds, if a business model can be found. Most SDI, Communities and Social Media 35

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traditional SDI efforts are pre-planned and top-down, though planning usually includesgetting user requirements and input and a growing number of SDIs are taking a bottom upapproach, for example in Australia and Spain. In contrast, most geoweb efforts are begunspontaneously, on an entrepreneurs hunch, and they grow "virally", that is, through word-of-mouth. Their progress unfolds through ad hoc decisions made in response to evolving marketneeds and business goals. Foremost in the launch teams mind is the question, "How can we getmore participation?" Commercial imagery providers, of course, have been key providers of SDI informationfor decades, but their business models have changed, too, with most of them now serving morecustomers with products and services that are tailored to smaller regions and more particularneeds. The question "How can we get more participation?" is the second question to guidegovernment SDI managers as they consider ways to leverage Web 2.0 capabilities in their SDIprograms. Their first question is, "What kind of participation do we want?" Bill Oates, Head of Cartographics for the Welsh Assembly Government, gave a talk atthe Where Camp EU 2010 Conference titled, "Do we need or want an SDI?" (Oates 2010).Oates describes the characteristics of a "neoSDI": • Community sponsored and led • Core government funding but allows for others to add value • Community developed • Forums / community space • Very Web 2.0 And he asks questions such as: • What is an SDI for? • Do we really need one? • Is it not being provided for by the market? • What problem does it solve? • Is what we want out of a neoSDI the same or different? 36 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 12: An SDI is a complex web composed of different kinds of interactions undertaken toachieve different kinds of societal benefits. Some G2G, G2B and G2C purposes are well served byWeb 2.0 approaches, and others arent. Oates review of the business problems an SDI solves include those in the text in Figure12. The images in that figure depict SDI application domains in which such business problemsarise. Traditionally, users of geospatial technologies have developed tools and techniquestargeted towards formal applications that require precision and accuracy. In some cases, thosetools and techniques may remain viable for many years to come. In other cases, ICT advances,geospatial and otherwise, may have inflicted "creative destruction" (a concept popularized bythe economist Joseph Schumpeter) on the traditional tools and techniques. Old wayseventually become obsolete, impractical, and marginalized. SDI, Communities and Social Media 37

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The new SDI 2.0 tools and practices enable creative SDI managers to approach somekinds of problems in new ways. Web sites can open governments to their constituents, engagethem in governance and provide information 24 hours a day. Many communities find thatmodern tools and technologies of communication and community building make a realdifference in residents quality of life, and some of these tools and technologies involvegeospatial information. But there are also limits to what can be accomplished today with SDI 2.0 solutions, andsome of these limits are likely to be in place for a long time. Crowd-sourced informationproduces non-uniform coverage, and search engine discovery is unlikely to displace alldiscovery systems based on registries of metadata. Many uses of geospatial data require datathat has been collected professionally using precise instruments and formal methods, andsometimes it is critical that the data has been documented with good metadata. Manyapplications in the geospatial domain are useful because they have evolved over the years tomeet exacting requirements, and it is difficult to imagine todays geoweb providing alternativesto such applications. However, the geoweb might be useful in some ways, adding, for example,new ways to disseminate information or supply ground truthing – ways to validate the content.Part 4. Place-based policiesAn August 11, 2009 Obama Administration "Memorandum for the Heads of ExecutiveDepartments and Agencies" from Peter R. Orszag, Office of Management and Budget; MelodyBarnes, Domestic Policy Council; Adolfo Carrion, Office of Urban Affairs; and LawrenceSummers, National Economic Council is titled "Developing Effective Place-Based Policies forthe FY 2011 Budget" (www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_fy2009/m09-28.pdf). Thememorandum "outlines policy principles meant to advance the Administration’s domestic andfiscal priorities and to increase the impact of government dollars by leveraging place-consciousplanning and place-based programming.... Effective place-based policies can influence howrural and metropolitan areas develop, how well they function as places to live, work, operatea business, preserve heritage, and more. Such policies can also streamline otherwise redundantand disconnected programs.... Change comes from the community level and often throughpartnership; complex problems require flexible, integrated solutions. ... To the extent possible,programs should allow for communities to identify distinct needs and address them inappropriate, strategic ways." This kind of policy advice, which is also part of the policy environment in other nations(such as the Scottish Government’s “Spaces, Faces and Places” strategy -http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/08/31114510/45128), can provide a rationalefor SDI 2.0 initiatives, because it encourages bottom-up, grass-roots involvement of citizensand local officials and organizations. Place based policies recognize that places are unique andinterdependent, and that input from people "on the ground" is necessary to overcome manykinds of problems, such as inefficiencies due to jurisdictional fragmentation and data fiefdoms.Place-based policies -- and SDI 2.0 solutions that elicit local knowledge in communities -- areuseful in activities such as education, energy and sustainability planning, neighborhoodorganizing and planning, land use planning ("smart growth"), public health and businessdevelopment. Objectives that some may see as a poor investment of tax dollars --empowerment and inclusion of marginalized populations, optimizing access to social services,and establishing land rights or locally popular natural resource management regimes -- are 38 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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more likely to be met and more likely to provide a national economic return if they havea strong foundation of community involvement. SDI 2.0 can potentially lead to empowermentof large segments of the population who lack skills and authority. User-generated geographic content, or Volunteered Geographic Information, canrequire some effort "out in the world" on the part of users, such as OpenStreetMap, or it canrequire just a few keystrokes such as users employ to create Flickr tags for colloquial placenames for photos. Some government municipalities in North America are using Web 2.0applications to gather information about road pot-holes and graffiti. Such information is usefuland it can be provided by people with no knowledge of surveying or Geographical InformationSystems (GIS). There are many other examples: • TomTom, the Dutch manufacturer of automotive navigation systems (and the company that recently purchased Tele Atlas, a major, global digital map maker) offers an information product called Speed Profiles. Speed Profiles aggregates and enhances real speed data from millions of GPS-enabled devices, using consumer driving patterns to provide true average speeds on individual road segments. Such information might be delivered to drivers -- or perhaps municipal transportation and emergency response employees -- through a municipal web site or web service. Or, if such information is easily available to drivers through commercial services, this could become an SDI capability the municipality no longer needs to spend tax money on. • WikiMapia is a proprietary online service that combines Google Maps with a wiki system that enables users to add notes to Earth locations. • Crime mapping is used by law enforcement agencies to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns, and some applications accept citizen input. • There are SDI 2.0 services for: guiding disabled persons for access and travel, putting map libraries online, bicycle and pedestrian routing, disaster relief, street views for historical photos, bus routes and real-time schedules, orienteering and hiking, and many other functions. These may be offered as ordinary websites, iPhone location applications, and Android tools and applications. Web 2.0 tools dont always directly involve individual citizens. Landgate (formerlyDepartment of Land Information) in Western Australia is participating in a pilot project todemonstrate the usefulness of linking health and spatial data. This is to advance spatial analysisfor improved decision making in the field of health. In collaboration with the CooperativeResearch Centre for Spatial Information (CRC-SI), the Department of Health and CurtinUniversity, the project will develop a Spatial Health Intelligence Platform, establish a trustednetwork of health operators across the country and form the basis of further bodies of work inthis space over the next several years. Most decisions by individuals, businesses, organizations, agencies and elected officialsare based partly on geospatial information. Sometimes it is sufficient to have a stable,authoritative source of geospatial information to refer to, but in other cases there is a back andforth or multiparty information flow involved. This requires interoperability between systems SDI, Communities and Social Media 39

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and the data or information being shared. Ultimately, governments will find that there areappropriate uses for both "action driven" SDI 2.0 solutions and the more traditional "processdriven" solutions that involve experts (Kishor 2009). These SDI 2.0 solutions will be structuredto support complex analysis and ultimately produce authoritative geospatial information.Sometimes one approach will be used to validate or support the other. Sometimes interactiveweb services whose content is partly user-provided will enable agencies to provide services atlower cost. We can expect that as SDI managers become more adept at making choices about SDI2.0 solutions, the playing field will also change as ICT technologies, tools and methodscontinue to evolve. But its reasonable to believe that experience gained in this early period ofWeb 2.0 (while Web 2.0 has a distinct identity) will prepare people for the changes to comeand allow them to share information quickly and be more responsive.Part 5. OGC standards and SDI 2.0For many years now, OGC standards and programs have been applied to address a range ofinteroperability requirements significant to SDI managers worldwide. Hundreds of productsimplementing geospatial standards of the OGC, ISO and complementary open standards areavailable in the marketplace. These geospatial standards underpin community geospatialsolutions from local to international levels. Policies that encourage use of these standards are helping to improve geospatialinformation sharing and are enabling technologies to be mobilized more quickly at lower cost.OGCs cooperative activities with other Standards Development Organizations (SDOs; Figure13) increase the value of the standards by ensuring their usefulness across organizations andjurisdictions. The OGCs strong lifecycle standards maintenance program is responsive tocommunity needs and provides continuity and predictability that institutions require. Thesestandards are now increasingly being included in Requests for Proposals and in geospatialsoftware and service procurements. 40 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 13: Geospatial information cuts across many technology and application domains, henceOGC works closely with many other standards development organizations (SDOs) The OGCs focus has been on offering business value to members and the widergeospatial industry. This has been achieved by creating a robust, comprehensive and self-consistent platform of standards to support organizations that have made major investments ingeospatial technology and data. The scope of OGCs work has steadily expanded to addressa plethora of application areas. Notably, the Sensor Web Enablement activity has produced thelargest set of additional standards, but the list of OGC Domain Working Groups(http://www.opengeospatial.org/projects/groups/wg) indicates the breadth of other activity: • 3D Information Management • Architecture • Catalog • Coordinate Reference System • Coverages • Data Preservation • Data Quality • Decision Support • Defense and Intelligence SDI, Communities and Social Media 41

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• Earth Systems Science • Geo Rights Management • Geography Markup Language • Geometry • Geosemantics • Hydrology • Location Services • Mass Market Geo • Metadata • Meteorology and Oceans • Oblique Imagery • Risk and Crisis Management • Security • Sensor Web Enablement • University • Web Feature Service • Workflow The OGC community and OGC membership have expanded every year, and a largenumber of the worlds major geospatial companies and agencies are members. However, thereis still plenty of scope to grow the membership as standards become more widely accepted andimplemented across the world. Several of the largest ICT platform companies in the world,such as Google, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle are also members who contribute to OGCstandards. OGC and its standards are well established and with this momentum behind theorganization it is well placed to help the SDI community. But the geoweb poses a particular challenge to OGC and the OGC membership.. Thegeoweb has several hundred times more users than the legacy geospatial world and geowebdevelopers often dont find the encodings and interfaces they need in the OGC baseline ofstandards. This means that they don’t deem it worthwhile to participate in the consensusprocess involved in defining OGC standards. A central fact about the geoweb is that web developers do not need to be geospatialtechnology experts to implement "mash-ups" and other "geo-hacks" that bring geospatialinformation and services into their applications. This lowering of the barrier to entry intogeoprocessing is a natural product of the growing power of the web platform and the evolutionof geospatial industry business models. It shouldnt surprise anyone that developers with ready access to "pluggable" locationservice components might not appreciate the value of OGC standards. Most such developershave not been through the agony of trying to use geospatial data from multiple non-interoperable sources. And web developers are very often racing against time, trying to 42 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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preempt competitors and gain " first mover advantage." They dont have time to participate ina consensus standards process. And they are also typically building transactional applicationsthat need to be highly efficient because the number of transactions is large and the acceptableresponse times are short. The spatial data they need to create, store and process is typically invery small packages, and the smaller the better. So most geoweb developers implementcompact, special purpose encodings and interfaces rather than implementing the OGCsconsensus standard encodings and interfaces. This is because the OGC standards carrybaggage thats necessary to enable interoperability among diverse systems. But for mostpurposes, the baggage is actually quite lightweight. Consider, for example, GeoRSS (http://www.georss.org/), a geoweb standard developedoutside of the OGC. It is designed to meet the requirement of some RSS applications to includeone or more pairs of coordinates in an RSS feed. The GeoRSS website provides this example ofthe two flavors of GeoRSS: Simple GeoRSS:<georss:point>45.256 -71.92</georss:point>and GML GeoRSS or "Pro" GeoRSS, developed with input from the OGC:<gml:Point> <gml:pos>45.256 -71.92</gml:pos></gml:Point> The number of extra bytes necessary to make the encoding compatible with the verylarge world of OGC Geography Markup Language (GML) Encoding Standard compliantapplications is very slight, but sufficient to turn some developers away. (See the OGC WhitePaper that describes GeoRSS (http://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=15755) andprovides a number of use cases.) It is also the case that some developers don’t realize that GMLand some other OGC standards can be implemented as stripped down, tailored profiles andapplication schemas. If a geoweb project leads to the creation of a successful company, there are manyreasons why the company will begin to see their proprietary encodings and interfaces asbaggage. The company may want to share their data to enable interoperability with a majorsocial networking website, for example. Or perhaps several social networking websites willagree to share data for some purpose, and they will settle on an OGC standard that gives themaccess to a vast, distributed collection of spatial data and processing resources. Or perhapsa larger company will want to buy the successful geoweb company, but lack of a standards-based encoding will constitute a sales objection. Or perhaps the successful geoweb companywill want to purchase components to expand the companys processing capabilities, andcustomizing the standards-based components will prove costly. It is instructive for geoweb developers to consider KML, the encoding schema forGoogle Maps and Google Earth, since it is ‘lighter’ than GML. KML was brought into the OGCby Google and is now an OGC standard. In April 2008, KML version 2.2 was officially adoptedby the OGC membership as an OGC standard. (http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/kml.) KML (originally Keyhole Markup Language) is now the OGC standard forannotation and visualization on existing or future web-based online maps (2d) and Earth SDI, Communities and Social Media 43

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browsers (3d), from any provider. Through the OGC standards process, KML has becomemore aligned with international best practices and standards, thereby enabling greater uptakeand interoperability of Earth browser implementations. KML 2.2’s consistency with the OGC’sother standards (http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards) means that developers will facefewer obstacles bringing content from other kinds of geospatial systems into Earthvisualization systems. For example, work products created using a Geographic InformationSystem (GIS), tracking system, Earth imaging system, or “sensor web” (Web-based sensornetwork) will be easily displayed with other data employing widely used browser-basedsystems. For example, a KML file could contain locations of hiking trails (stored as GPScoordinates or street addresses) overlaid on a highway map or on remotely sensed imagery ofa wilderness area. Similarly, data encoded in GML from applications implementing the OGCWeb Feature Service (WFS) standard can readily be styled to KML for visual presentation. The OGC invites other companies to release their interfaces and encodings into theOGC process to become open standards. Harmonization of incoming standards with the OGCbaseline, though it may happen, is not a requirement. The OGC is a smart place to bring well-used and open but proprietary standards, simply because the OGC global lifecyclemanagement process is tried, proven and trusted. At all levels in the OGC organization, thereis recognition that de facto standards (such as KML) and consensus standards in themarketplace will more effectively serve users needs if the de facto standards are delivered intothe OGC process to be managed collaboratively by the OGC membership, which representsthe interoperability requirements of the world community of geospatial technology users anddevelopers. OGC standards can derive from open source projects, proprietary commercialproducts or the development work of the consortium itself. Both open source projects andvendors of proprietary software recognize that in many cases it pays to release an interface orencoding into an open standards process, because doing so can expand markets, reducedevelopment costs, create good will and simplify partnering arrangements.Geoweb in OGC testbedsIn addition to the geoweb efforts described above, a considerable amount of work relevant tothe geoweb has been done in recent OGC Testbeds: A scenario in the 2008 OWS-6 Testbed (OWS stands for OGC Web Services) involvedan actual implementation in Taiwan of SWE standards and chained Web services in a workingdebris flow detection system. In parts of Taiwan—due to terrain, weather and geology—someupland river valleys are subject to sudden and dangerous flows of earth and boulders, so it’simportant to provide alerts and warnings. This scenario involved alerts, notifications, gridprocessing and real-time event architecture. The Aviation Thread in the current OWS-7 Testbed is investigating and willdemonstrate the applicability of the Aeronautical Information Exchange Model (AIXM) andthe Weather Information Exchange Model (WXXM) in an OGC Web Services environment.These models and web services are part of applications and tools that support AirlineOperations Centers and Flight Dispatch applications in the net-centric System WideInformation Management (SWIM)-related components of the US NextGen and EuropeanUnions SESAR programs. Such applications provide information for representing a Common 44 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Operating Picture; supporting flight planning (including General Aviation) and preparation(MET and AIM); calculating weight and balance; estimating fuel requirements; in-flightemergency response; etc. These applications are more heavy-weight than most geoweb applications and they aresubject to rigorous security and reliability constraints. But they have much in common withthe geoweb. They are designed to bring in information from diverse public informationsources; they are highly interactive, involving a wide range of stakeholders; and theirrequirements for frequently updated contingent routing plans parallel those of some publicroad navigation services. They rely heavily on GML schema to enable communications withinand across communities of use (AIXM, WeatherXML, CityGML, MarineXML, etc). Other OGC standards efforts relevant to the geoweb include: The OGC Open Location Services Interface Standard (OpenLS) specifies interfaces thatenable companies in the Location Based Services (LBS) value chain to “hook up” and providetheir pieces of applications such as emergency response (E-911, for example), personalnavigator, traffic information service, proximity service, location recall, mobile field service,travel directions, restaurant finder, corporate asset locator, concierge, routing, vector mapportrayal and interaction, friend finder, and geography voice-graphics. These applications areenabled by interfaces that implement OpenLS services such as a Directory Service, GatewayService, Geocoder Service, Presentation (Map Portrayal) Service and others.Telecommunications companies have implemented OpenLS, often with modifications, in their"walled garden" application environments, because it concisely meets a number of criticalrequirements. As these companies business models evolve in the direction of closercooperation with their competitors, it is likely that their use of this standard will provebeneficial to them and to their customers. The OGC Web Services, Phase 6 (OWS-6) Testbedactivity completed in June 2009. The Decision Support Thread in OWS-6 (see Figure 14)included the development of a prototype Outdoor and Indoor 3D Routing Service designed toprovide navigation information that lets users easily find out how to get to their chosendestination in a city environment. CityGML is the accepted standard for describing 3D datasets for city environments, including buildings. But CityGML does not currently include a datamodel for routing information. By adding the network topology, path routing was performedseamlessly and efficiently between the outdoor and indoor environments. SDI, Communities and Social Media 45

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Figure 14: The OGC’s OWS-6 Testbed made a significant contribution to the eventualstandardization of methods for combining indoor and outdoor routing The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) GeoPriv Working Group’s PIDF‐LOGeometry Shape Application Schema coordinate location payloads is encoded as a GMLapplication schema. This payload encoding is now being incorporated in numerous otherinternet standards. There will be efficiencies potentially available to many geoweb and cloudcomputing applications in using the "raw" internet location encoding. (Location-based servicesneed to securely gather and transfer location information for location services, and at the sametime protect the privacy of the individuals involved. GeoPRIV describes an architecture forprivacy-preserving location-based services in the Internet.) The OGC City Geography Markup Language (CityGML) Encoding Standard(http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/citygml) is in official use in several cities andregions in Europe. It provides Web-based sharing of urban models, design drawings and otherdata and services. CityGML provides the means for applications to manage multiple levels ofdetail. It will almost certainly play a role in the evolution of geoweb urban navigation, becauseit performs well and it is entirely based on open Web service standards. In February, the OGC and the buildingSmart alliance (bSa) released a report,"Summary of the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owner Operator Phase 1 (AECOO-1) Joint Testbed." The report summarizes results of a nine-month effort in the OGCsInteroperability Program to increase interoperability among software systems used byarchitects, construction companies, cost estimators and building energy analysts. TheAECOO-1 Testbed was jointly led by the bSa and the OGC, with participation fromarchitecture firms, general contractors, government agencies, and trade associations including 46 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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the American Institute of Architects and the Large Firm Roundtable. This collaboration hasbrought the OGC into a new industry domain, "Building Information Models" (BIM). One ofthe anticipated results of BIM standards is common use of 3D building models that are richwith information about spaces and building components. Subsets of these very detailed modelswill be leveraged to create various building representations to support a range of activities suchas safety and security, retail service location, energy management and building maintenance.Through these activities, the OGC is on track to play a role in the development of indoorlocation standards, which will be essential to geoweb applications that access and deliverinformation about building interiors and contents. The OGC has played a major role in coordinating the development of the basictechnical foundation of a service oriented architecture for the Global Earth Observation SystemOf Systems (GEOSS) (http://www.earthobservations.org/ ). The OGC is leading AIP-3, thethird year of the GEOSS Architecture Implementation Pilot. AIP-3 will involve multipleparticipants in developing and demonstrating standards-based multi-vendor solutions relatedto disaster management of floods caused by tropical storms, hurricanes, cyclones, andtsunamis. An Emergency Route Planning Service will use the OGC OpenLS route service andthere will be interactive visualization of digital terrain models and 3D landscape and citymodels. Applications will access data layers on population, settlement points, urban extents,intercity roads, and related topics, and they will use client interfaces based on the Google MapsAPI and OpenLayers. Scientific workflow and a sensor event service for river flow alerts will beshown. Similar complex scenarios will be addressed in the areas of water quality and drought,energy, health, biodiversity & climate change, and data harmonization. GEOSS and the AIP-3are, among other things, advancing geoweb applications for science and for disastermanagement. This is very much at the "bleeding edge" of geoweb technology, because therequirements and back-end processing services are so complex. But the solutions that result, aswell as the extended cooperation among the OGC, IEEE and ISPRS, will lay the groundworkfor more capable geoweb applications than are available today. Sensorpedia (http://www.sensorpedia.com), a program developed by Oak RidgeNational Laboratory, networks users based on mutual information interests. It applies designprinciples common to popular Web 2.0 sites: • Use of a URL as the common denominator for referencing specific pieces of data • Access control based on social networking and groups of trusted users • A flexible tag-based classification scheme in place of a fixed hierarchy of information • Simple Application Programming Interface (API) supporting the creation of data “mashups” from multiple data sources • Publish-subscribe mechanism enabling automated notification of data updates Sensorpedia provides a Google Maps interface through which users can search andexplore published sensor data. The Sensorpedia API uses web services designed to accept andpublish data using established standards such as the Atom Syndication Format and GeoRSSand it relies on open data portability standards such as OpenSocial, OpenID, and OAuth to SDI, Communities and Social Media 47

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ensure interoperability with other web-based software applications. Sensorpedia also interfaceswith sensor systems based on the OGCs Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standards. Sensorpedia is an important example of how sensors will figure into the Geoweb.Sensors can be fixed or carried on moving objects, and human beings can serve as sensors.Humans serve as sensors in "citizen science" projects such as the Christmas bird count andProject GLOBE. The number of sensors and sensor applications is increasing rapidly. Cellphones transmit geocoded information, credit cards and wifi hotspots tell where weve been,and internet-connected sensors of all kinds are being used in a wide variety of applications.Sensors will play a major role in the geoweb, but the applications will be limited and isolated ifthey dont provide for the use of OGC SWE standards (Figure 15).Figure 15: Through standards, applications will communicate in a “loosely coupled,” vendor-neutral fashion with both devices and “heavy” processing resourcesThe geoweb in spatial law and policyNow, both public sector and private sector users and providers of geospatial data andtechnologies face a wide range of legal issues associated with growth in consumer and businessapplications for spatial technology. Such applications include Earth browsers, satellitenavigation devices in cars and PDAs, location based services associated with cell phones,business intelligence, social networking and satellite tracking of vehicles and equipment. All ofthese applications potentially raise issues that involve intellectual property rights, liability,privacy, and national security. In many cases, the existing legal and policy framework isinadequate to provide governments, businesses and consumers clear guidance on these issues. In response to this growing situation of legal and policy uncertainty, OGC establisheda Spatial Law and Policy Committee (SLPC). The purpose is to 1) better understand legal and 48 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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policy implications of geospatial information and technology use, and to 2) influencegeospatial information technology standards development requirements in the OGC. It willhelp OGC to be responsive to the range of policy and legal positions that will exist worldwide.In the past, legal issues associated with spatial data and technology were primarily a concernfor lawyers that worked with or for the government. The SLPC will provide an open forum for OGC members’ legal and policy advisors todiscuss the unique legal and policy issues associated with spatial data and technology. TheCommittee will also work with relevant legal groups, and professional organizations, to raiseawareness of these issues within the broader legal community. The SLPC will not provide legaladvice to the OGC or its Members and will not take a position on any legal or policy matter onbehalf of the OGC or its membership. It will rather focus on clarification of the legal and policyenvironment of the Consortium and work to ensure that Consortium standards reflect relatedbest practices and the societal requirements that shape institutional uptake of interoperablegeoprocessing. A number of law and policy issues are particularly relevant for geoweb applications.(See Kevin Pomfret’s Spatial Law and Policy Blog http://spatiallaw.blogspot.com/.)Where usersare providing crowd-sourced information (often a collection of assertions), quality, trust,reputation and liability are potential issues. And map browsers that show land parcels run intoobjections because parcel sharing is a controversial issue, and some countries, notably Indiaand China, impose severe restrictions on display of maps.ConclusionStandards from the OGC, ISO and other standards development organizations underpin theinteroperability best practices of GSDI, but geospatial interoperability is not yet wellestablished in the still-young geoweb. SDI success stories and geoweb success stories are ampleand growing, but the union of SDIs and the geoweb is still an area for discovery andexperimentation. In SDIs we are enabling the fusion of real-time sensor feeds with geospatialinformation for improved situational awareness and decision making, but implementations ofthe important standards infrastructure for geoweb-style sensor webs are only beginning tobecome established. In some domains -- ocean observation, Earth observation and urbanplanning and management, we are uniting (and bridging) communities of interest that wish toimprove discovery, access and application of geospatial information. In these domains andothers, established and widely implemented OGC Web Service standards will continue toprovide the technical footing for institutional interoperability. The geoweb can be expected to provide certain kinds of new capabilities and deliverspatial services to new user communities. It will become more powerful as geoweb developersand the OGC find new common ground for standards that enable improved geowebinteroperability and improved connection between the geoweb and the industrial strengthtechnologies that have evolved in the legacy geospatial technology markets. The best way forSDI managers to begin is to learn about the geoweb and experiment with small scaleimplementations, and imagine ways that the geoweb can provide accessory functions in thegovernment-to-government, government-to-business (and business-to-government) andgovernment-to-citizen (and citizen-to-government) communications involved in various SDIapplication domains. SDI, Communities and Social Media 49

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Efficient way of usability evaluation of Web-based GISapplicationsJitka Komárková, Miloslav Hub, Pavel SedlákFaculty of Economics and Administration, University of PardubiceIntroductionAccessibility of spatial information to all users, regardless their knowledge and skill in the GISfield and their equipment, belongs to contemporary development trends. Web-basedgeographic information systems (GIS) are able to ensure this kind of service. Of course, onlysoftware of a very high quality should be used for this purpose. Software quality can beevaluated for example by the ISO/IEC 9126 standard. According to the standard, usabilitybelongs to the six basic software quality characteristics. Usability is the only qualitycharacteristics focused on software users and ability of software to efficiently meet user’srequirements. Many various qualitative and quantitative experimental methods exist which canbe used for usability evaluation. However, a specific way of usability evaluation must beproposed to perfectly comply with evaluated application, its specificity and aims of evaluation.Authors previously run many experimental measurements – usability evaluations of Web-based GIS applications which were focused on citizens, tourists and businessmen, i.e. casualend-users. In the contribution, a suitable way of usability evaluation of Web-based GISapplications for casual end-users is briefly described, based on previous authors’ experienceand obtained experimental results. The proposal takes into account specificity of this kind ofapplications. Proposed way of usability evaluation includes both representatives of real usersand experts and allows obtaining both qualitative and quantitative results. Issues connected tocosts and benefits of usability evaluation are discussed as well.Web-based GIS applicationsUsers increasingly require easy and remote access to spatial data and geo-services. Many newtechnologies geo-enabling the Web, smartphone applications, etc. have arisen and they arequite popular today because they add several interesting functions and they usually allowinteractive work of users. Web-based GIS applications belong to them. Web-based GIS are applications focused on end users who usually do not have anyknowledge and skills from this field. Aim of this kind of applications is to provide users an easyand remote access to spatial data and services by means of Web technologies and protocols,like HTTP. Equipment of users (i.e. their hardware, software and Internet connection) can bevery different. It means that applications should be able to run on all of platforms and theyshould be very easy to use. Web-based GIS applications provide in general the following functions to their users(Tsou (2004)): • Data storage and maintenance • Spatial analyses, e.g. queries and route planning • Visualisation of spatial information and results of analyses. SDI, Communities and Social Media 51

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Some of the functions are used by end users directly, some of them are used by endusers only indirectly (namely data storage). For more detailed view, it is important to defineprecisely target group of users. User classification slightly differs from author to author. Atleast the following basic types of users should be distinguished (Komarkova, et al., (2007), Pengand Tsou (2003)): • Casual end-users, like citizens, tourists, business partners, etc. They use Web-based GIS applications casually and irregularly. A very low level of the digital literacy must be still expected. No GIS knowledge and skills can be assumed and assured because users cannot undergo any training. Their equipment is very different, they can use any existing hardware and software (primarily Web browser and operating system). They may not be able to install any software and their Internet connection can be slow. On the other side, only a few basic functions are usually needed by them. They at most need to set their region of interest, display geographic information, change scale, run very simple queries and print outputs or save resulting map as an image. Selection of appropriate data layers and saving URL of resulting maps can represent additional interesting functions. • Regular end-users, e.g. employees, like civil servants, regular customers, cooperating partners, etc. Regular and everyday utilization of Web-based GIS applications is quite typical for this group of users. They usually use only several functions but some functions may be very specific. All required functions can be identified in advance. Users can be trained in if it is necessary, and they repeatedly use the functions and tools. The next advantage is connected to their hardware and software – it can be identified and they usually use similar or the same equipment (e.g. appointed Web browser or another client software). In the case of necessity the equipment of users can be influenced. • High-end users, usually GIS specialists who collect, prepare and process data, run spatial analyses, and provide results of their work to the other users. They do not belong to the main target group of users of Web-based GIS. • Mobile users, i.e. rapidly growing group of people who use mobile devices like navigations and smartphones. Mobile device is the most important specific characteristic of this group. Mobile device causes some limitations for applications, e.g. due to the display size of the device. Users themselves can vary from casual end users to high-end users. The set of demanded functions is usually limited but some special functions may be needed (e.g. disconnected editing of data). Usual architecture of Web-based GIS is the three-tier client/server architecture.According to the principles of the architecture, the following three main tiers can berecognized (Alter (2002), Peng and Tsou (2003)): • Data tier – spatial and non-spatial data, their management (may be implemented as a database management system) and granting user permissions • Application (logic) tier – functionality of an application, i.e. data processing; at 52 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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minimum map application server and Web server must be available in the case of Web- based GIS • Presentation tier – user interface (UI); user enters queries by means of it and obtains results so this part must be understandable, learnable and easy to use to be user- friendly.Usability and its EvaluationThe usability of a user interface becomes extraordinary important in today’s information age.The discipline dealing with it, so called usability engineering, is a quite new one in terms of thehistory, experience and number of trained people. But an importance of the usabilityevaluation has increased rapidly in last 10 years (Nielsen (1999)). In contrast to the past, usersare no longer forced to use particular product that does not fully satisfy their needs orrequirements, just because there is no other product available. That is also why the measuringof usability had been previously underestimated. Usability is software quality characteristics. It is the only ISO 9126 qualitycharacteristics focused on users. According to the available definitions (e.g. Fenton and Pfleeger (1997), Folmer andBosch (2004), ISO (1998)) usability can be understood as “an ability of an information systemto meet both all explicit (i.e. expressed) user’s requirements and his/her implicit needs ina given context of use, so user will not experience any problems with user interface duringfulfilling typical tasks and he will be able to fulfil tasks in an appropriate time” (Komárková, etal., (2011)). At present, usability and its evaluation belong to fundamental parts of softwareengineering (Nielsen (1995)). Usability can reveal qualities of a product as well as a lack of itsfunctionality. Usability can be for example measured by means of several measures given bythe standard ISO 9241-11 (ISO (1998)): • Effectiveness measures: e.g. achieved percentage of successfully fulfilled tasks • Efficiency measures: e.g. time necessary to complete a task • Satisfaction measures: e.g. rating scale for satisfaction. Usability can be evaluated by means of usability evaluation methods. According to theGray and Salzman (1998), the term “usability evaluation method” is used to refer to anymethod or technique performing a usability evaluation of UI at any stage of its developmentlife cycle. In Scholtz (2004) the usability evaluation methods are divided into three maingroups (e.g. Ivory (2001) states five groups): • User-centred evaluations (usability testing methods) • Expert-based evaluations (inspection methods) • Model-based evaluations. These methods differ depending on the source used for the evaluation. This source can SDI, Communities and Social Media 53

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be users, usability experts, or models. All three types of methods rely on usability engineers orusability professionals to design, conduct, analyze, and report on the evaluations (Ivory (2001),Komarkova, et al., (2007)). Several suitable methods are listed in the Table 1. It is shown atwhich phases of the system development life cycle (SDLC) they can be used.Table 1: Evaluation methods As stated in Nielsen (1995), user testing with real users is the most fundamentalusability evaluation method. In some sense, it is irreplaceable since it provides directinformation about how end users use evaluated products and what their exact problems arewith the concrete interface being tested. During usability testing, participants use the system ora prototype to complete a specified set of tasks while the evaluator or specialized softwarerecords the results of the participants work. The evaluator then uses these results to deriveusability measures, such as the number of errors and task completion time (Nielsen (1995),Shneiderman and Plaisant (2004)). Nielsen (1999) states that a usability test, where fiveparticipants take part, usually reveals approx. 80 % of the site-level usability problems (e.g.navigation) and 50 % of the page-level problems (e.g., understandability of the navigationstructure). In contrast to a user-centred evaluation, a usability inspection consists of evaluationmethods whereby an evaluator examines the usability aspects of a UI design with a respect toits conformance to a set of guidelines (Ivory (2001)). The fundamental goal of all inspectionmethods is to find usability problems in an existing interface design and then use theseproblems to make recommendations for improving the usability of an interface (Nielsen(1995)). Guidelines can range from highly specific recommendations to broad principles. 54 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Unlike the other usability evaluation methods, inspection methods fully rely on evaluator’sjudgment. A large number of detailed usability guidelines have been developed for webinterfaces, some of them can be found for instance in (Nielsen (1995), Lynch and Horton(1999)). Commonly used inspection techniques are heuristic evaluation (Nielsen (1995)) andcognitive walkthroughs (Lewis, et al., (1990)). The former is considered easy to learn, while thelatter is considered neither as easy to learn nor easy to apply (Nielsen and Mack (1994)). In heuristic evaluation, one or more evaluators independently evaluate an interfaceusing a list of heuristics. After evaluating the interface, the evaluators aggregate their findingsand associate severity ratings with each potential usability problem. The output of thisevaluation is typically a list of possible usability problems (Nielsen (1995)). A heuristicevaluation is the most informal inspection method (Nielsen and Mack (1994)), mainly becauseit relies on a small set of usability criteria. Since the heuristic evaluation is very cheap, fast andeasy-to-use (Nielsen and Mack (1994)), it is therefore the most widely used inspection method(Scholtz (2004)). Studies as (Nielsen and Mack (1994)) have also shown that the simpler thetechnique, the more effective the method is for identifying usability problems. Actually, themost used usability evaluation methods are the user testing and heuristic evaluation. Thesemethods have both advantages and disadvantages that are shown in the Table 2. The heuristicevaluation appears favourable for cheap and quick finding of the most significant usabilityfaults of an existing user interface.Table 2: Comparison of heuristic evaluation and user testingAlthough there are several general recommendations available, usability evaluation proceduremust be newly proposed or refined for each evaluation to precisely meet its aims and provideexpected and useful results. SDI, Communities and Social Media 55

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Proposed MethodologyAfter running many experiments and studies (e.g. Komarkova, J., et al., (2007, 2011) and manyothers), the following methodology how to run usability evaluation was proposed inKomárková, J., et al., (2011b): 1. Initialization – the first decision that usability testing should be done 2. Aims of the usability evaluation study – their precise formulation including decision whether quantitative or qualitative results should be collected 3. Proposal of possible usability evaluation methods 4. Consideration of costs and benefits of usability evaluation 5. Usability evaluation procedure proposal – final choice of suitable usability evaluation methods, precise plan on experiments, list of necessary tools, participants, evaluators, and equipment 6. Evaluation – running the whole evaluation according to previously established plans 7. Data analyses – suitable statistical methods can be used for quantitative results, audio and video records must be passed through, etc. 8. Results and proposals – interpretation of results Usability engineering activities can result in various expenses reductions during theSDLC and in some cases in benefit increase too. Some of the benefits and expenses reductionsare listed in Aaron (2005) but not all of the listed items suit to Web-based GIS. For example anincreasing of software purchases does not suit, because Web-based GIS are usually free ofcharge for casual end users. Some of them even offer public services. Next example isincreasing of market share (competitive edge) that cannot be used as well because Web-basedGIS does not support any competition, at least in original meaning. Therefore it is necessary toselect from existing business case studies and research works adequate components of revenueof usability investment in Web-based GIS and to suggest the own ones if some aspects are notpublished so far. Possible expenses reductions: • Reduction of qualified staff – well designed Web-based GIS can be used by the less qualified staff, e,g, at tourist information centres • Reduction of user errors, increase of success rate – users find required information and they find it faster so they are satisfied and they do not need to call for help • Decrease of support costs – organizations have both direct and indirect costs. These can be tracked both in technical support an in the hidden costs of co-workers helping each other. In one study it was estimated that this extra costs were many years ago even between $6,000 and $15,000 every year for every computer (Bulkeley (1992)). Usability improvements can reduce this cost 56 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Benefits increase:• Increase of user satisfaction – users easier and faster accomplish their goals so they are more satisfied• Increase of an efficiency of decision processes – Web-based GIS can serve as a decision support system in many different cases. It can be used to make plans for holidays on one side and for emergency service on the other side• Increase of trust in a system (e.g. public administration) – Stanford University’s Web Credibility Project showed that “ease of use” was the second highest factor contributing to a customer’s overall perception of credible Web site (Bisant Interactive (2002)). Another study clearly showed that user’s trust can be significantly increased by providing relevant information when and where users need it (Egger and de Groot (2000)). If users trust in a system they will use it more effectively. For example a lot of people still do not trust in electronic tax returns or data boxes and therefore they visit offices so the service is more costly• Learning increase – it is impossible to train external casual end users of Web-based GIS applications. Therefore external user interface must be extremely intuitive to let users quickly learn how to use it• Security increase – usability tends to minimization of user errors that can result in security risk for whole information system.• More leisure time as a result of productivity increase – users save time they would spend on non user-friendly user interface. Some additional notes, how to improve efficiency of usability evaluation procedure:• Nature and purpose of the study must be clearly determined in the very beginning. Quite different methods including number of participants should be chosen in the case of quantitative (e.g. comparison of applications to support choice of the best one) or qualitative (e.g. usability problems identification to improve the application) studies• Target group of users and typical ways of utilization of the evaluated application should be described in the detail to focus evaluation exactly on the correct issues. There can be significant differences between applications for casual and regular end users• It must be decided which functions/application features will be tested. The list should be derived from the previous item. In the case of Web-based GIS it should be decided if only specific functions would be tested, or cartographic issues and general Web controls would be included too. Testing needless functions means costs without any return. According to one experiment, the following functions are the most important for causal end users, even in the case they have some GIS knowledge and skills: zooming, panning, spatial and attribute database queries, network analyses, results saving, printing and sharing, data visualization controlling• Availability of real users or their representatives SDI, Communities and Social Media 57

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• Number of participants and evaluators – some of the participants can take part in the experiment for free but some of them may require some reward. A deep usability user testing of a larger Web site can last several hours • Testing environment, necessary equipment • Running cost benefit analysis to calculate costs and identify expected benefits • Selection of the most suitable usability evaluation methods according to previous items • Selection of a proper way of data collection and pre-processing – e.g. transforming large number of paper questionnaires into digital data can be costly • Utilization of obtained results – it must be ensured from the beginning that obtained results will be used to improve the application. Without taking an action all the previous work was just wasting of time and moneyConclusionAs it was stated many times, applications should be user-friendly to support users in theiractivities and not to make their lives more complicated. Utilization of usability evaluationmethods during the whole life cycle is a possible way how to improve a user interface ofapplications to be more user-friendly. Usable user interface can bring several benefitsaccording to the type of an application and its users. On the other side, improving usability ofan application can cause high additional costs of software development. So, it is important toplan usability evaluation procedure in a very detailed level, including cost benefit analysis, todo not waste money. In fact, each usability evaluation procedure must be planned to fit theevaluated application and meet requirements on evaluation. Evaluation of Web-based GISapplications is more difficult because both specific GIS functionality and common Web toolsand controls should be evaluated. Several important issues connected to efficiency of Web-based GIS applications evaluation were pointed out.ReferencesAaron, M., 2005. User interface Design’s Return on Investment: Examples and Statistics. In Bias R., Mayhew, D (eds.), Cost-Justifying Usability. An Update for the Internet Age. Morgan Kaufmann.Alter, S., 2002. Information Systems: Foundation of E-Business. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice- Hall.Bisant Interactive, 2002. ROI-Usability, Customers and Business [online]. Available at: <http://www.busant.com>. [Accessed 17 February 2009].Bulkeley, W. M., 1992. Study finds hidden cost of computing. The Wall Street Journal Western Edition, B4. Dow Jones & Company, Inc..International Standards Office, 1998. ISO 9241-11:1998(E) - Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) - Part 11: Guidance on usability. Geneva: ISO.Egger, F. N., and de Groot, B., 2000. Developing a model trust for electronic commerce:An application to a permissive marketing Web site. In Poster Proceedings of the Ninth International World-Wide Web Conference, Amsterdam.Fenton, N. E., and Pfleeger, S. L., 1997. Software Metrics: A Rigorous and Practical Approach. 2nd ed. Boston: PWS Publishing Company.Folmer, E., and Bosch, J., 2004. Architecting for usability: a survey. Journal of Systems and Software, 58 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Alternative and User Centric Spatial Data Infrastructuresin South-East Europe: Building spatial data infrastructuresin South-East Europe: Alternatives, bottom up and useroriented approachesUlrich BoesURSIT Ltd., Sofia, Bulgaria, http://www.ursit.comAssociation for Geospatial Information in South-East Europe (AGISEE), http://www.agisee.orgIntroduction: SDIs and Some CharacteristicsSpatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) are formal arrangements with their main goal to provideaccess to geospatial data in a country, or across a given area or domain. Data is provided fromseveral sources, and Spatial Data Infrastructures are distributed environments. SDIs normallyuse GIS and may grow out of the use of GIS (Geographic Information System) withina distributed infrastructure. However, whereas GIS comprise technology and data, SpatialData Infrastructures require policy agreements and a proper organization that they canoperate. The goal of using Spatial Data Infrastructures is to share data between institutions, torealise and to foster services, and to enhance the diffusion of public data to other stakeholders,especially private companies and citizens therefore reducing costs,. SDIs may exist on severallevels: on national level, initiated by national governments, making data available for a wholecountry, or on local or regional level, with arrangements valid only for a certain geographicalregion or for certain thematic areas. The use of geospatial data and SDIs has increasedworldwide in the last two decades. Currently, there are about one hundred spatial datainfrastructures at the national level and many other at supra- and sub-national levels[Budhathoki, et al., 2008]. Definitions of spatial data infrastructures emphasise the user of geospatial data, butpractically, such infrastructures are initiated and established by data owners, which are oftengovernment authorities or administrations such as governmental mapping agencies. Thesespatial data infrastructures that we may call formal operate with two main assumptions: formalorganizations are the producers and suppliers of geospatial information; users are the passiverecipients of information. [Budhathoki, et al., 2008] This view is confirmed in [Budhathoki,2010], where SDIs are called provider centric and providers only assume that their productsand services satisfy user needs. Further, the users of spatial data infrastructures are normallynot end-users, who are citizens or businesses, but rather specialists working in administrations[Boes, Pavlova, 2008]. Despite a growing interest in SDIs, several researchers notice problems in SDIdevelopment and research and state that the use of formal SDIs is not encouraging[Budhathoki, 2010]. 60 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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The Internet as Enabler of New Spatial Data InfrastructuresWhereas SDIs were originally conceived as formal arrangements with national providers as theinitiators, several deviations from this conception have taken place in recent years. There is amove to make geospatial data available on local level [Rix, Fast, 2010], and more and more usercentered information services are becoming available [Budhathoki, 2010]. This cannot bedissociated from the development of technology [Boes, 2008], with both hardware andsoftware becoming cheaper. New technology such as GPS, available now in digital camerasand mobile phones, has revolutionized the processes of spatial data creation. The use of mapsand cartographic information on the Internet has led to several new disciplines and researchareas. For instance, geospatial data has been made available for specific purposes to requestuser input in so-called Public Participatory GIS [Tulloch, 2007]. Other forms of use, combinedwith the phenomenon of the Web 2.0, have become even more popular and could besummarized by the term “cybercartography” [Tulloch, 2007]. Some authors suggest the name“Neogeography” [Coleman, et al., 2009] to define “geographical techniques and tools used forpersonal activities or for utilization by a non-expert group of users”; others have defined theterm “Volunteered Geographic Information“ [Goodchild, 2007] for user generated geospatialcontent. As a consequence, the public at large has become aware of the use of maps andgeospatial information. Examples are abundant today. It was in fact the publication of Google Earth andGoogle maps in 2005 that created a revolution making maps available to the masses that is tonon professionals. Google Earth allows easy editing of maps, to publish points of interests, todraw lines and polygons, to publish annotations, images or movies on a map. Users can createtheir own maps in using “My Maps”, launched by Google in 2007, in using a simple point andclick interface. Google maps offer an API (Application Programming Interface) withJavaScript that is used by many to create mash-ups that is their own mapping application andinsert their data into the maps provided by Google. Except Google Maps, other examples thatcould be quoted are Microsoft Virtual Earth and Bing Maps. Maps and location information isincreasingly used in social networks. Geospatial data has become part of a mass market. It isargued that these satisfy a variety of needs within industry, government and social networkingcommunities [Coleman, et al., 2009] that is otherwise not addressed by formal spatial datainfrastructures. A very interesting example is “CommonCensus” (http://www.commoncensus.org),displaying a map of the US. On this site, users are requested to document to whichmetropolitan area and territory they feel their identity most closely associated with. The resultis a nationwide map that assigns every point in the country to a metropolitan area with whichcitizens are most closely associated [Tulloch, 2007]. This site has collected data from over40,000 participants. It is interesting to note that this web site has been created by an individualwho has no education in geography or statistics, and who did not have any support fromgovernment or NGOs. Another, widely published example is OpenStreetMaps (http://www.openstreetmap.org/), which is a free editable map of the whole world completely created by laymen users.OpenStreetMap allows to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way fromanywhere on earth. Figure 16 shows the street map of Skopje in the Republic of Macedonia ascreated by its users. SDI, Communities and Social Media 61

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Figure 16: The city of Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, in OpenStreetMaps User generated information has proven to be particularly useful in the case of disasters[Boes, 2009a]. In many disasters, such as the Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, efforts tocollect input both from victims and from volunteers ready to help have proven to be superiorto formal support activities. Data are transmitted using mobile technology, which is inparticular in Africa the main means of communication. Other Internet based applications usespatial information such as “Second Life” where users can create landscapes, cities and livingenvironments which are essentially 3-dimensional spatial systems. More examples could be quoted. In all these cases, users are providing informationconnected to a location. They are using web based systems with user friendly interfaces thatare reachable from everywhere in the world [Tulloch, 2007]. Users are not those who havea special education or training in geography or cartography but untrained amateurs with littleexpertise or formal training who also have little time and resources they can afford to spend[Elwood, 2007]. Since these volunteers are not professionals, questions arise concerning thequality of the results produced and quality assurance procedures. There are arguments that thequality procedures are just different which at the end also guarantee qualitative results[Coleman, et al., 2009]. Since users are the primary actors, results are determined directly by their needs andnot by providers that base their products or services on certain assumptions of the userdemand. Users are forced to think of new solutions that correspond directly to their needs andtherefore, they create new innovation. In many cases, open software solutions are used and useof innovation and also standards becomes interrelated [Budhathoki, 2010]. Some further examples might give more insight into these issues. Brazil is a transitionaleconomy with a large geographical area, which needs GIS and SDIs for decision making inregional planning as necessary for the population and the economy [Câmara, et al., n.d.]. Therole of the national mapping agency in Brazil is however rather limited and the necessary maps 62 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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are provided by research and the private sector. They see spatial information as fundamentalpart of the information infrastructure and act as early adopters of SDI technology for thediffusion of geospatial information. Stakeholders from both research and private sectors, withtheir understanding of Information Technology, built on the use of GIS and started to developan SDI using new and alternative approaches. The software was built in Brazil and released asopen source software. Use of open source software is considered important as a means againstvendor lock-in. A decisive factor was a strong collaboration between the key actors fromresearch and private sectors. Communication between providers and users was established inseveral scientific and user conferences. International collaboration was initiated on a personalbasis and provided experiences useful for SDI development. In fact, real problems weredriving SDI development and adoption. SDI development in Cuba emerged as a combination of both top down and bottom upapproaches. Following the establishment of its national SDI, UNDP funds supported pilotprojects using spatial data leading to the existence of several local SDIs that were based on theprinciples of the national SDI. Use of spatial data is considered integrative part of a largerprogramme for Information Society development. User needs originating from areas such asfleet management are driving the setting up of local SDIs. Also here, open source wasimportant and education and capacity building played an important role. Evaluation andmonitoring of progress has been a constant task [Fernándeza et al., 2009]. In the United States, shifts in local government practices have created new stakeholdergroups with special demands on spatial data and on SDIs [Elwood, 2007]. A participatory GISproject has been created in Chicago for community development, which involved NGOs, localnon profit organizations and voluntary organizations in spatial planning and use of geospatialtechnologies. They create their own spatial data from their local knowledge and need tointegrate these data with official data sources. Many challenges are observed to access suchformal data sources. One of these is data quality and currency of the official data, which do notcorrespond to the real situation in the local environment. Although these grassroot groups arenot professionally trained people with respect to geospatial information, they provide evidenceof the significance of their local knowledge and the disparities between them and the officialdata providers. Scenarios are put forward to solve conflicts between them. The local grassrootgroups could for example provide their local and current data to the official data providers.A symbiosis could be created for the benefit of both and the local groups could be supported bythe authorities that these authorities accept the data of the local groups along with their officialdata. Users are close to local needs and are able to provide solutions to problems that need theuse of geospatial data. They can therefore provide an important input to official data providerswho are in fact far away from the real problems outside of their domain and local, domainspecific knowledge turns out to be very important for high quality geospatial data. However,one problem observed was unwillingness to share data since data constitute a powerful sourceof influence. These examples demonstrate that new and innovative approaches are created by theusers of geospatial data. Important elements are collaboration between actors, transparencyand openness. Required is easy to use software adapted to user needs, which is in many casesfulfilled by open source software that users can tailor to their needs. Despite the concerns thatnot formally trained users would not be able to provide high quality data, they can in fact offera solution to many currency problems if actors on both sides are willing to collaborate. SDI, Communities and Social Media 63

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Research today recognizes as well that the role of the user of geospatial information and ofSDIs changes and some authors propose to “reconceptualize” the user of a spatial datainfrastructure in order to create a middle ground between spatial data infrastructure andvolunteered geographic information, which has important implications for future SDIresearch. [Budhathoki, et al., 2008] At this point, we could attempt a definition of what we call an “Alternative Spatial DataInfrastructure”. As a traditional SDI, the alternative SDI combines different sources ofgeospatial data and makes these data available using certain procedures for access to data.Major actors are the users who start from their needs to build the SDI in a bottom up way,without observing formal procedures. They provide content to some or even to a large extent,combine it with other sources of data and who then also use these data. In many cases, they arelaymen users of geospatial information. These SDIs are driven by special needs, operate ina certain area and often contain data useful for certain purposes only. They are dynamic andtheir content is permanently updated. Goodchild [2007] speaks of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) and calls theusers “sensors” who work together to build up such an SDI. He states that “Given a server withappropriate tools, the various pieces can be fitted together, removing any obviousinconsistencies, and distributed over the Web. The accuracy of each piece and the frequency,with which it is updated, can be determined by local need.”SDIs IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPEThe region of South-East Europe consists mostly of small countries, with the two EuropeanUnion member states Bulgaria and Romania; Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Turkeyas candidate countries to the European Union and all the others aspiring membership to theEuropean Union as well. The region suffered from various conflicts even in the recent past andthe countries are all considered as transition economies. Data availability and accessibility is a problem in the countries of South-East Europe,and at most, components of a Spatial Data Infrastructure are implemented. Although thesecountries lack behind in the development of SDIs, they demonstrate strong interest in the areaand it is recognized that spatial data are important for the economic and social development.This is the result of a recent study [Boes, Dimopoulos, 2009; Boes, 2009b] documented aftera workshop in February 2009 in Thessaloniki which brought together representatives of nearlyall countries in South-East Europe. This activity led to an overview of the status in South-EastEurope and was part of the European project eSDI-net+ (http://www.esdinetplus.eu/). Thisproject ended in August 2010 and has created a network of actors in the area of SDIs inEurope, with the South-East European countries part of it. The study showed that there are several applications that need spatial data and whichdrive the development of SDIs. These are on one side more traditional applications such ascadastre and land registration, land management and agriculture. On the other side,environmental applications use spatial data as well and it is in this area that most innovativeapproaches can be observed. Environmental needs create collaboration between several actorsincluding citizens, and require access to data from different sources. It is just in the environmental sector that many institutions and NGOs come up with 64 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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solutions for the protection of the environment and activate citizens to contribute. This isrelated to a growing civic society movement and their needs for geospatial data. Variousexamples can be provided. Protected areas need spatial data and institutions such as naturepark directorates in Bulgaria have to answer questions of citizens, for example what an ownerof a parcel that belongs to a protected area is allowed to do on his parcel. Such local authoritiesrealise that they need GIS and spatial data from several sources for their services. This createscollaboration between providers and users and they exchange data and information related toa location in their area. An interesting example is provided by the Bulgarian NGO BlueLink (http://www.bluelink.net/) that was created in April 1998 as an information network by eight non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from five major Bulgarian cities. In May 1999, thenumber of registered users of BlueLink’s services exceeded 100. More than 15 topic oriented e-mail lists were operated then. In 2008, BlueLink started an important and interesting projectwhich they called “Spasigorata”, which means “Protect the Forest”(http://www.spasigorata.net/). Its home page is shown in Figure 17. Users, citizens or tourists,can publish their observations about illegal logging of forests on the site in using an interactivemap from Google Maps and GPS coordinates to localise sites of registered violation. Users cansend signals as text and in graphical format, via email, web interface or SMS. “Spasigorata”supports activities for monitoring and control by state institutions. BlueLink attracts a widerange of experts, NGOs and civil society organizations for the development and actual use ofthe online system which supports common efforts for the preservation and development of theBulgarian forests. SDI, Communities and Social Media 65

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Figure 17: Web site of “Spasigorata.net” with points marked by users where illegal logging isobserved In the Ohrid Lake watershed area, an environmental GIS Database for its managementand conservation was set up that gives access to different types of data such as a digitaltopographic map of the watershed area, the land use map of the watershed area and manyothers. Data exchange between public institutions in Slovenia is made possible by the site“prostor.gov.si” that also gives access to spatial metadata and to surveying data. The portalhttp://prostor.gov.si allows users to view the Land Cadastre, the Building Cadastre and theRegister of Spatial Units data. Access is given to registered users, primarily those working inpublic administration on national and local levels, commercial users (real estate agents,lawyers, insurance agencies, banks, etc.) and land survey service providers [Lipej, Modrijan,2010]. The Slovenian farm registry (http://rkg.gov.si/GERK/) contains data regarding specificfields of operation in a farm, including the spatial location of fields and their type of usage. Allinformation related to the agriculture in Slovenia is included and a service is provided foraccessing and modifying these data in order to make it possible for all agriculture-relatedorganizations to use the same data and infrastructure. The data is used in all processes related 66 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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to agriculture, which could be animal identification and registration, disease outbreaks,forestry service, land use, IACS or some payment schemes. Farmers can submit applications,carry out on-the-spot controls or controls with remote sensing. Geocenter (http://www.e-geocenter.com) constitutes a spatial and real-estateinformation centre for supporting small and middle sized business. It provides support in allspatial and real estate activities to citizens, economic operators, public services in the largerarea of Maribor. In this region, municipalities work together to provide information andanalytical support. The Slovenian Geopedia (http://www.geopedia.si) is a web-based free atlas,which can be edited and extended by the general public. It contains various kinds ofgeographical and geo-referenced data that come from many different sources and offers a user-friendly web interface, where it is easy to find items of interest and to display them oninteractive maps. Users can define and publish new layers with custom styling and textualdescriptions, aggregate related layers into custom maps and associate them with other sourcesof information. In other words, Geopedia is a true collaborative on-line GIS with at the sametime an important source of user-generated geographical content. These examples show that both in highly developed countries and in transitioncountries such as those of South-East Europe various portals for spatial information exist andthat users become more and more involved in the use and distribution of geospatial data. Alsohere, it is often users and applications in certain areas that drive the use of geospatial data,although this does not necessarily lead to the implementation of a Spatial Data Infrastructure.Mobile technology has made the use of maps for orientation and navigation ubiquitous andtoday’s smart phones such as the iPhone, the Android or Nokia phones all provide access tomaps.How to Go Ahead – the Alternative Approaches Various examples were narrated where users of geospatial data took the initiative tocreate their own applications and their own access to data which goes further than traditional,formal approaches. Geospatial data are on its way to become a commodity as these examplesdemonstrate. Much experience exists in industrialized countries; the examples from transitioncountries in Latin America and South-East Europe demonstrate that also there, users becomeincreasingly aware of geospatial data and maps and adapt their use to their needs. The moregeospatial data becomes available, the more it is used and combined with other data that isrelated to a location on the earth. NGOs representing citizen movements are often those user organizations that are mostactive and with innovative ideas to realize and incorporate their needs. They operate often ona voluntary basis and can use their knowledge of their needs and their local environment toproduce new or innovative solutions. An important factor is collaboration, openness to othersand transparency, enabling learning from each other in order to build the necessary capacityfor using geospatial data. Thus, users also turn into data providers but in a different way thanofficial data owners occupied with providing access to their data. The availability of technology and the Internet [Boes, 2008] facilitates the use anddistribution of geospatial data, using easy geo-browsing, mash-ups, GPS, broadbandcommunications and mobile technology. Technology has become much cheaper and in easyreach of users allowing them also to realize their requirements with geospatial data. This is SDI, Communities and Social Media 67

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often provided by open source software, in combination with low cost and the possibility toadapt it to special requirements. Technology makes it possibly to easily mash-up or combinedata and applications and its use becomes ubiquitous. It is also observed that these applications cross the borders of geospatial data andtechnology and are combined with other data and other applications. Games and virtualworlds constitute good examples in this respect. Geospatial data become data as any otherdata. Users combine any kind of data which leads to Spatial Data Infrastructures starting fromthe users, according to the definition given beforehand, in a bottom up way, which differs fromtraditional spatial data infrastructures. INSPIRE for example follows a top down process inbuilding spatial data infrastructures following guidelines defined beforehand. These findings are confirmed from other sources as well. The European projectNature-SDI+ (http://www.nature-sdi.eu/) builds up knowledge and capacity in staff fromEuropean protected areas. In order to understand user needs in this area, a European widesurvey had been carried out [Hennig et al., 2010] that led to the conclusion that geoportalsshould focus on the demands of both users and data providers in this area, which aremonitoring, reporting, research work, planning and management. A strong demand isdocumented for additional data to be brought together with existing geospatial data andgeoportals should be open for data provision from everybody and all user groups. Users do notwant to go to different web sites to find data but want to locate their data via a single point ofaccess. These findings are not only valid for users in protected areas, and could easily beapplied in other areas. We can argue that this goes beyond the definition of traditionalgeoportals such as defined by INSPIRE. It is necessary to point to such examples and make them available for wider use in orderto create better awareness of what is done and incite more users to create their ownapplications. The knowledge of existing applications would encourage other users to follow upand create new applications and their own spatial data infrastructures. A platform fordistributing this information could be the project eSDI-net+, which is after its end taken overby EUROGI, the European Umbrella Organization for Geographic Information [Rix, Fast,2010]. This might create the impression that innumerous stand-alone applications and spatialdata infrastructures would be created that do not fit together. It is argued however that users,driven by the realization of their needs, are aware that data need to fit together and often, opensource software systems are used that excel in the implementation of open standards. Thus,the author sees rather a convergence towards the use of opens standards and interoperability.Figure 18 is an attempt to sketch the individual components that would work together to buildan SDI in the sense of this paper. 68 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 18: Elements of an alternative spatial data infrastructure The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) recognizes these developments towardsalternative approaches. They have recently created their “Global Advisory Council” asa world-wide and informal community of standards protagonists to promote awareness anduse of standards by everyone. This council is acting as a body to collect input and feedbackfrom users and implementers of standards in all regions of the world to improve thestandardization process. Having said this, the OGC’s Global Advisory Council has specialimportance to the developments related in this paper. Not only bodies such as the OGC, but also stakeholders of the geospatial communityshould better become aware of the increasing use and distribution of spatial data. Data ownerssuch as mapping agencies should make their data available on reasonable terms and agree onworking with users which would also be for their benefit. This is already happening in somecases, for example, the Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom makes some of their datafreely available. However, the use of data from private providers such as Google prevails.Users should take advantage of the geospatial data offered on the Internet and not hesitate tocombine this with their data. It is believed that these alternative and the traditional approaches converge in the longterm towards a truly distributed Spatial Data Infrastructure. This results in a new form ofdemocratization, where an increasing number of citizens use such tools to express themselves.ReferencesBoes, U., Pavlova, R. (2008). “Is there a Future for Spatial Data Infrastructures?”, GI-Days 2008, Proceedings of the 6th Geographic Information Days, June 16-18, Muenster, Germany, IfGIprints 32, p. 305 – 314Boes, U. (2008): “New Technologies and their Impact on Cartography and Disaster Management”, SDI, Communities and Social Media 69

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The role of SDIs as enablers of next generation intelligenttransport systemsGiuseppe Conti, Daniele Magliocchetti, Federico Devigili, Raffaele DeAmicisFondazione Graphitech, via Alla Cascata 56C, 38123 - Trento, ItalyIntroductionThis paper presents the results of i-Tour "intelligent Transport system for Optimized URbantrips", an on-going project that is being funded by the European Commission, to promote useof intelligent mobility systems and multi-modal interfaces for transport of passengers withinurban environments. The project is developing a user-friendly travel information system, built on top ofstandard SDI technology. The system has been designed to best perform within complex multi-modal networks within urban environment. Furthermore the project proposes a number ofnovel approaches to data collection including crowdsourcing techniques, borrowed by thesocial networking communities. In fact i-Tour predicates an approach whereby citizens canbenefit from a wide range of Location Based Services, or LBS, through mobile client softwaredesigned to run on Android-powered smartphones or tablets. Most interestingly, from a purely societal standpoint, i-Tour has been conceived topromote and award sustainable travel choices based on use of both public transport and otherforms of sustainable mobility (e.g. cycling). i-Tour provides intelligent multi-modal routing services to users, by selecting the besttrip according to the travellers’ preferences. The system can respond adequately to real-timeevents through proper re-scheduling, based on real-time information, including weatherconditions, traffic information and public transport load, which are made available through theSDI via a number of web services. This allows i-Tour clients to be able to suggest optimaltransport planning, avoiding for instance trips on overcrowded trains or suggesting to walkduring good weather conditions. The project predicates a vision is in line within the priorities set by the EU within theICT Strategic Research Agenda for Mobility, which advocates the use of info-mobility service,including pre-trip, on-trip and post-trip information. More specifically, i-Tour is developinga service-based open infrastructure, as SDI, to ensure proper distribution of all differentdatasets made available to the system. The SDI is designed as an open source toolbox allowingeach public transport operator to be responsible for the creation, maintenance and update ofa specific set of sophisticated web services, extending beyond standard OpenGIS® (OGC)standard services. According to the SDI paradigm each actor of the federation, in this case each publictransport provider, becomes responsible for the deployment and maintenance of a specificgeographical service, whilst being consumer of other providers’ services. However the contribution of i-Tour should be not only assessed on a technological basisbut also in terms of societal implications on the wide community. In fact, for the first time, i- SDI, Communities and Social Media 71

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Tour brings to the domain of transportation the typical approaches found in social media, inparticularly leveraging on crowdsourcing approaches. This approach, which follows theparadigm of “users as sensors”, ensures that updated information is constantly made availablethrough the SDI through contributions by the users. Last, but not least, the project is delivering a number of strategies to promote awarenessin terms of environmental footprint of private transportation, through a number of so-calledserious games, which motivate users to opt for public transportation in place of private travelsolutions.OutlookThe general public is now well aware that the increasing number of vehicles throughout Europehas a significant impact in terms of economical and social costs, leading to widespreadcongestion (causing costs up to 1% of EU total GDP) and pollution. Private transportation isalso cause of significant social costs as road accidents are mass scale killers. According toWHO (World Health Organisation) 885,000 people p.a. globally lose their lives in trafficaccidents involving private vehicles. As noted by the Commission for Global Road Safety:"every month a silent tsunami wave of road traffic crashes sweeps away 100,000 lives". InEurope alone traffic accidents are accountable 45,000 deaths and 1,3 million people injured peryear (Simba II 2011), with a total cost for the European Union of approximately 200 billioneuros per year. Traffic is also responsible for large scale health issues, as it is widely acknowledged thatair pollution caused by road transport affects in EU up to 20,000 of people per year(Krzyzanowski et al. 2005), with further social and economical costs. All these factors are the major causes for growing concern over the environmentalimpact of transportation. According to recent figures from European Environmental Agency(McGlade 2008) passengers and freight transport alone are accountable for 22% of carbonemission in the EU-27. This is the main drive of initiatives such as the ’50 by 50’ Global FuelEconomy Initiative (GFEI), by UN Environment Programme (UNEP), International EnergyAgency (IEA), International Transport Forum (ITF) and FIA Foundation. GFEI predicatesreduction by 50% of EU greenhouse gas emissions from cars with a reduction of 6 billionbarrels of oil and 2 billion tons of CO2 per year. However, as highlighted by Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy andTransport there is “no one magic formula” to solve all the aforementioned issues and anintegrated technological approach is required. This requires, on the one hand, advances invehicle energy efficiency and safety and, on the other hand, it must promote an evolution interms of transportation policies, traffic management, sustainable mobility initiatives, and moreflexible and personalised mobility schemes. To this extent the growing social awareness on sustainability is having significant effectsin terms of public attitude towards transportation. In the last few years awareness of the generalpublic on environmental impact of man-made activities has significantly increased. To thisextent, personal mobility makes no exception. In particular in western Europe there has beena growing concern about reducing the environmental footprint of personal mobility. Using mixed private-public transit is an excellent way to reduce costs and 72 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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environmental footprint as demonstrated by a recent study by the American PublicTransportation Authority. The study suggests that using mixed transit can be one of the mosteffective ways to reduce carbon footprint: a solo commuter switching to public transportationcan reduce in a single day their CO2 emissions by 10 Kg (or more than 2,200 Kg per year). However while people are increasingly sensitive to the importance of a clean and safetransportation there is a lack of effective solutions so hampering any potential society benefit.Within the ICT domain a number of portals are now emerging, either promoting sustainabletransportation through scheduling over public transport routes, such as Google Transit(Google 2011) or measuing environmental footprint of public and private transport such asEcoPassenger (2011) EcoTransit (2011). To be effective, intelligent mobility systems need to provide relevant and updatedinformation to the user in order to optimise their journey through a pre-trip planning or evenon-trip planning. A good traffic management system today needs to be able to supportintegrated multi-modal and inter-modal approaches, including distributed mobilitymanagement. Intelligent mobility systems should convey information related to road safety includingexact congestion mapping, delivery of local warning service, dangerous weather conditions,special events (rallies, road works, etc), bad pavement conditions and traffic conditions. Newgeneration info-mobility systems should also deliver personalized services, according to theprofile of end users, trying to balance between the trade-off of amount of detailed informationand real-time response. The project i-Tour responds to the aforementioned scenario through the developmentof technologies to support and promote safer and environmental-friendly mobility conceptsthrough personalised IT solutions designed to improve security, avoid congestion andoptimize journeys. More specifically the architecture of i-Tour has been engineered to answer to the needsof a typical public transport provider willing to provide access to a wide range of geospatialresources of interest, ranging from information on transport network to live sensor dataassessing the number of people on a given bus. The requirements, from the infrastructural point of view, were to maximiseinteroperability and ease of integration through the development of an extended Spatial DataInfrastructure tailored to the wide community of transport operators. In fact highinteroperability was considered essential to facilitate its uptake among various transportoperator with very limited need for adaptation of their existing data and service architecture. From a mere technological perspective the i-Tour SDI can be considered as a complexsystem of hardware and software components geographically distributed yet interconnectedthrough a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Data providers (e.g. transport providers,service providers, public administrations) can deploy web services which can be used toprovide specific functionalities to client software, to access data repositories as well as totransform data within a fully interoperable environment. Such an interlinked approach allowsthe definition of cross-dependencies and competency regions within and among differentSDIs. In fact each data provider becomes responsible for the management and publication oftheir own data and services while it can seamlessly benefit from having interoperable access to SDI, Communities and Social Media 73

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data and services managed by other operator. The project illustrated in this chapter has required the involvement of various transportoperators, including motorway, railway, bus, ferry and metro operators. Their involvement hasbeen essential for the definition of the initial requirements, for the provision of the datasetsrequired by the infrastructure and for the validation of the results within a real-life scenario. i-Tour answers to these issues by proposing an open source software infrastructure,which is to be made available as toolbox to administrations and public transport providers toprovide interoperable provision of real-data and services on a variety of multimodal transportsystems. i-Tour is also developing a software client from which desktop and mobile users canconsume and produce information on the transport system conditions in a user-friendlymannerRelated worksThe scenario set by the project, which tries to maximise use of public transportation, essentiallyrequires that the system should be considered as an extended pedestrian-centric routingsystem. In fact, when dealing with multi-modal trips, the system must be able to providedirections to a mostly walking user boarding or connecting to a public transport means.Typical scenarios include a user walking home, cycling to a station to catch a train, or walkingwithin a station to get on a connecting metro line. All the various transportation conditionsmust be properly supported in addition to standard car-centric guiding, as available fromstandard navigation software. Although standard car-based routing is provided by i-Tour as part of the extendedmulti-modal concept, however, due to its novel implications, within this chapter we will onlyfocus on routing situations wherever the user will not be driving private vehicles. Little attention has been paid by commercial applications to this scenario. Virtually allthe commercial solutions provide only routing based on private vehicles. The greatest majorityof applications available for smartphones or other portable devices essentially cater for carnavigation and routing. In fact very little attention has been paid to true pedestrian routing.Most of the systems that offer pedestrian routing do so essentially as adaptation of carnavigation, simply by loosening constraints set by driving on roads (one way streets etc.).Furthermore they do not provide any support for routing through public transport networks.In other words, although most portable car navigation systems can be set to “pedestrianmode”, their interface does not change; neither does it accounts for any specific requirementthe new context may arise. Selection of destination is typically based on addresses or Points ofInterest (PoI), while travel preferences only include options such as fastest, shortest route, tollor toll-free roads etc. The route is typically drawn on the map or clearly indicated by arrow (ifin 3D). Whenever en-route traffic updates are received the system automatically offers tocalculate a new route to account for updated status. Other more advanced navigation systems, based for instance on Augmented Reality(AR) interfaces, such as Wikitude Drive (Wikitude 2011), essentially rely on the very sameinteraction pattern, the only difference being the content in the background which evolvesfrom a standard 3D scene, to a live images captured by the camera of the smartphone.However, within this domain, the use of augmented reality, albeit technically mature, can be 74 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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considered at its infancy both in terms of user interaction and feedback. In fact littleimprovement has been made to provide additional or different information than thoseavailable within 3D navigation systems, to best exploit the contextual information availablethrough an augmented reality scene. Furthermore the mere re-proposition, within a portable Augmented Reality (AR)system, of concepts typical of 3D interfaces for navigation systems, partly vanishes the mostbeneficial aspect of AR, which is the constant contact with the surrounding context. In fact, inmost AR applications the directions or other graphical components (e.g. arrow indicating thepath) typically cover a significant portion of the screen, often being placed in the middle of theroad, typically corresponding to the geometry used by the underlying representation of theroad network. Instead, indications in Augmented Reality should account for the geometry ofthe real scene surrounding the user, optimizing location of visual aids in order to reducepotentially dangerous obstructing of important visual clues. If we steer away from car-based navigation systems, the few dedicated cyclingnavigation systems available from the market are either adaptations of car navigation systems,such as TomTom (2011) Rider series, or an evolution of bike trip computers, such as Garmin(2011) Edge series. Their adaptation to specific requirements of bikers merely resides in anextended road network (to account for bike lanes and paths suitable for riding) or in the use ofa larger buttons (to allow for easier interaction when cycling or wearing gloves). Instead little attention has been paid to providing different types of routing, for instancebased on landmarks met along the street, on real-time information (e.g. regarding availabilityof bikes at designated bike-sharing facilities) or, least of all, based on integration with othertransportation means. With specific regard to multimodal routing interfaces, only a handful of solutions areavailable from the web. The most famous example is Transit (Google 2011), which is practicallyan extension of the standard web-based routing system available through standard Googleservices. Fewer examples are found if we look for systems designed for portable devices (e.g.smartphones). In this case very little solutions are available from both the market and from theresearch community. A notable exception is CityAdvisor (2011) an application for smartphones that providesrouting over the public transport network. The directions provided are essentially the orderedlist of unimodal journeys required to reach destination, without providing any navigation onhow to reach them nor on how to transit among different journey segments. Furthermore noadvanced recommendation is available based on specific user preferences neither a mechanismbased on updates is set in place. With specific regard to true multimodal travels, very little development has been doneto create specific routing (Rehrl et al 2007). Research has shown that normally users heavilyrely on signs while they rely on landmark for way finding at stations and nodes where the userrequired re-orientation (Fontaine & Michel Denis 1999). Augmenting routing informationwith 3D functions is important when complex 3D routing is required. In fact research hasdemonstrated that providing 3D axonometric representation (Fontaine 2001) helps peoplecreate mental representation of the station, helping their navigation. According to severalstudies (Fontaine & Michel Denis 1999) it is particularly important to provide directions SDI, Communities and Social Media 75

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through signs as navigational aids, integrating maps and guidance instructions. Particular attention has been paid to cognitive aspects of the traveller. According toprevious research (Gaisbauer & Frank 2008) it is important to account for the so-called imageschemata, a concept introduced in the late eighties, to define the conceptualization of thesurrounding physical environment. Perceptive order is not just a rational and numericalproblem, it is not a picture of the outer world, instead it is the result of a selective mentalprocess of organisation that involves the whole structure of the object. Traditionally, perception has not been considered as the ”reality” of the spacessurrounding us (Weizsäcker 1947) but the "process by which a mental image, or percept, of anobject or phenomenon is acquired. This is a process of segregation and unification by whichenvironmental stimuli are organised into specific forms” (Weber 1995). Nowadays perceptionis regarded as not completely determined by stimuli, instead, it essentially subjective andstrongly influenced by the observer himself. A first essential aspect to be considered is therefore how to create an interaction modelthat can help the traveller build a perceptually better mental image of the surroundingenvironment. A number of techniques have been proposed to improve guidance and routingbeyond traditional mapping and navigation applications. A notable example is the so-calledTapGlance (Robbins et al 2008), which reinforces contextual awareness between map andinformation of relevance (e.g. a list of Points of Interest), through the use of animatedtransitions between screens based on use of so-called “faceted searches”. Research has also shown that standard turn-by-turn directions, originally thought fordriving directions, are not best suited to pedestrian navigation. The use of landmarks toaugment recommendations and navigation, which has been subject of extensive research, canbe instead very beneficial to pedestrian routing. Landmark-based routing relies on directionsgiven according to key points (landmark) along the route and it provides a simpler navigationmechanism with constant contact with the surrounding scene (May et al 2003). One of themost relevant examples is described in (Hile et al 2008) and (Hile et al 2009). In this case,routing is ensured through use of geotagged images. The system renders on top of themdirections (coloured arrow) identified around the path. The identification of landmarks isautomatically made through segmentation of so-called “loxels” (location cells), which are usedto segment the path and the surrounding area. Relevant landmarks are identified and then usedto formulate the appropriate routing directions. Additionally the work in (May et al 2003)suggests performing calculation of camera pose through computer vision techniques in orderto define precisely 3D orientation and location in the real space of each image. Information oncamera pose is then used to project, in overlay, the directions to be followed by the user asarrows in overlay. The formulation of instructions has also been subject of several studies. (Stark et al2007) have compared the effectiveness of four different ways of formulating routing conceptsincluding: i) auditory instructions on top of visual routing instructions, ii) visual routing only,iii) map positioning and provision of directions and iv) textual description based on streetnames. The study has proved that instructions based on street names were more effective thanmere right or left turn instructions. Users have proved to become more acquainted with thesurrounding area becoming familiar with street names. This factor, in turn, has positivelycontributed to help them build a mental city map therefore make better routing decisions. 76 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Additional aids to navigation of pedestrians have been proposed. The relatively smallscreen available through smartphones requires development of sophisticated techniques tovisualise information on events that occur outside the current map view. NRU(Lastiminute.com 2011) uses the so-called radar view, a dynamically adjusted view, alightedwith the real direction of the users, that allows appreciating points of interest in the nearby.Other techniques include Halo (Baudisch & Rosenholtz 2003), specifically developed to avoidcontinuous zoom in/out to compensate for events or information appearing in off screenportions of the map. The technique is based on the adoption of circles located around eventsoff-screen, whose radius is set to intersect the portion of map currently visible. The ringincreases in size with the distance from the screen, providing also information on the distanceof the object.Typical use caseThe following use case, which has been identified for its relevance in terms of use of multi-modal transport systems, can be used to better show the objective of i-Tour. It should be noted that the scenario below has been edited from specific feedback by thevarious transport operators involved in the project. During the analysis, particular attentionhas been paid to the implications of use of Location Based Services, trying to underline thevalue added processes that can be delivered, within a mobile context, through a personalmobility system. The use case starts with the user about going to work. Before leaving her house sheconnects to i-Tour from her home PC. The system asks if she would like to leave the car athome and get to the office by public transport as there is not any scheduled appointment onher agenda that requires driving. The system then proposes several alternatives based on publictransport using bus, metro, train, and carpooling. Among the various alternatives, rankedaccording to the user’s personal travelling preferences and behaviours, she initially selects theoption that requires travelling by bus. However, after checking the timetable and the route, sherefuses this solution. She then selects, among the various options, a journey plan based on a 30minutes trip by train to the central station, with a further journey leg by metro, followed byeither a 5 minutes public city bike ride or by a 20 minutes walk to the office. After confirmingthe latter option she turns off the PC, then she switches on the smartphone and starts the i-Tour app, ready to leave home. As the system detects, through the GPS and theaccelerometers/gyroscopes, that the user is walking, it starts providing sound-based feedbackto guide the user to the station. After boarding the train i-Tour informs her that one of her friends is travelling on thevery same train, asking if she wants to place a call to her. Shortly after, the user checks theavailability of a city bike at the central station where i-Tour reports that three bikes are stillavailable. After some minutes the device alerts her, by vibrating and beeping, that there is nomore bike available at the train station and it proposes two alternatives. The first requirestaking a bus 50 meters away from the station with a 10 minutes connection. The secondrequires walking 500 meters to reach another city bike parking. She selects the second optionand, once outside the train station, she switches to augmented reality mode, to be able to seeinformation on the surrounding environment on top of images of the surrounding space SDI, Communities and Social Media 77

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captured by the camera fitted on the smartphone, until she is guided to the city bike parkingand, eventually, to her office. Before the lunch break the user logs onto the i-Tour portal and, from her PC, starts thedesktop client and asks the system the following query: “get me to the closest shop that acceptsmy credit card where I can buy some food”. The system processes the request and it suggestsa shop that is located 10 min away by walk. This option is proposed since it is reported sunny;hence there is no reason to plan a trip by public transport. The system informs that the shopwill close in 45 minutes. The user accepts, she leaves the office carrying her smartphone thatmeanwhile automatically starts providing directions on how to get to the desired location. When the user gets to the shop she finds out that this has recently changed theiropening time so she updates the system with the new information. The information and hertrust level, is sent via the Internet to the i-Tour central repository to be processed and madeaccessible to the wider community. The mobility system informs then of an alternative foodshop in the nearby and it provides the necessary routing. At the end of the day i-Tour informs that the choice of using public transport for dailytrips has resulted in an reduction of CO2 and PM (Particulate Matter) emission (values areillustrated) and that she will need to save additional X kg CO2 or Y grams of PM emissions tobe eligible of a 10% monthly discount on public transport fares.The SDI for personal mobilityThe complexity of the previous scenario clearly highlights the several limitations imposed byuse of standard SDIs. For this reason it has been necessary for i-Tour to extend the traditionalconcept of SDI by developing a software infrastructure based on a very articulated ServiceOriented Architecture capable to ensure interoperable provision of real-time and static dataregarding a variety of multimodal transport systems. Such a complex infrastructure is designedto provide multi-modal routing services via user-friendly ubiquitous clients. The latter can beeither e web-based 3D Geobrowser or a 3D App, to be run by smartphones within a LocationBased Service scenario.Definition of the “knowledge model”From the methodological point of view the study started with the definition of user scenariosend-users’ requirements through specific questionnaires designed for both final users(laypeople) and for technical staff. The latter has been necessary to identify operationalprocedures in place for the various daily activities. The use cases identified and the requirements collected were the basis to createa common “knowledge model”. It should be noted that we explicitly refer to “knowledgemodel”, and not “data model”, to highlight the very abstract nature of this activity, which hasbrought to the specifications of the various classes shared by the different software componentsand sub-systems, which operate as “bridge” or communication channels. At this stage in facta set of class interfaces (i.e. class names and function structures) were defined to represent, ina conceptually abstract manner, the various information required by the different i-Toursoftware components to deliver all the functionalities needed to satisfy the use cases. Theclasses of the “knowledge model”, which were formally modelled as UML class diagrams, have 78 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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been logically structured in hierarchical fashion based on the following top level classes:geometry, event, location, rate, activity, user, transport, environment. These top-level classes, further specialised by extensive subclassing, have allowedmodelling of all the different aspects handled by i-Tour ranging from type of fare, to usergroups, from type of transport mode and vehicle, to type of location etc.Definition of the “data model”Starting from the knowledge model the data model was then derived as persistent state of theformer, thus implicitly ensuring consistent mapping between the two. The data modelling activities was performed starting from the assessment of thedata/technology available through the various stakeholders involved in the project. To do soa questionnaire was distributed to transport operator with the aim to identify resourcesavailable. The questionnaire was designed to collect: 1. Information in terms of functional description of transport management systems in place for both urban and extra urban trips. 2. Technical description of ICT infrastructures necessary for management of transportation networks. 3. Information on data available both in terms of static data, for instance road networks or traffic model, and real-time data, for instance regarding traffic flows, traffic forecasts etc. 4. Other relevant data which may be available through external resources, for instance through third party web-services, providing for instance information on traffic, weather conditions etc. The operators were also asked to provide a functional description of the transportinfrastructure, for each transport mode, including rail (train, underground, etc.), road,waterways (ferries, etc.) or other transport means (funicular, cable car, etc.). Operators wereasked to detail to the greatest possible extent situations where mode change could occur (e.g. atstations), providing –wherever possible- descriptions of parking areas to be used whenswitching from/to private to/from public transport. The results of these activities were, on the one hand, the creation of an O-D (Origin-Destination) matrix for the different transport networks, with additional information onsources of updates, frequency of updates and, on the other hand, the definition of a functionaland technical architecture diagram of the IT and ITS (Intelligent Transport System)infrastructures in use by the transport operators. The most significant results of this first preparatory activities, was the design of theoverall i-Tour architecture. This follows a three tiers (layer) outline typical of most SDIs witha communication paradigm based on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) where eachcomponent (deployed as service) interacts with the others through a set of messages written ina standard format (e.g. based on XML, mostly OGC standards). SDI, Communities and Social Media 79

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The data levelSimilarly to standard SDIs, i-Tour has required installation, configuration and deploymentof a typical data level based on a spatial database, in this case based on open source solutionPostgreSQL with PostGIS extension. However in i-Tour the data level has been enriched withfurther more articulated functionalities as illustrated in Figure 19.Figure 19: The internal overview of the data layer At this level, real-time data coming from each transport operator is transformed in real-time to the i-Tour data model and sent to the central database. As illustrated in Figure 20 thisis done through two gateways. One operates as interface with the IT and ITS infrastructure ofthe transport provider. This components, which operate at data level, ensure real-timetransformation to the i-Tour data model. This way data coming from proprietary ITS areconverted on the fly and sent to the central i-Tour database for use by the multi-modal routingsystem. This includes, for instance, information on delays, traffic conditions, bus crowdinglevel, position of public transport vehicles, messages containing information on accidents ormaintenance.Figure 20: The ingestion process from the proprietary infrastructure of the transport provider tothe data level of i-Tour Further low-level software components, depicted in Figure 1, provide real-time datatransformation of further ancillary information of interest for i-Tour such as informationgenerated by users (as described in following sections) or weather information. Data comingfrom specialised public APIs, such as Google or Yahoo! Weather services, are converted inreal-time and forwarded to the i-Tour database, where they are stored according to the datamodel illustrated in the previous sections. Most relevantly, as illustrated in Figure 1, the data level features very advancedcomponents capable to collect, in real time, information on crowding levels at designatedplatforms based on video processing techniques. The system developed uses existing analogue 80 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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cameras already used for video surveillance at one of the pilot stations managed byCircumvesuviana, in Italy. It should be noted that the use of existing video surveillancecameras ensures future easy scalability to other stations. The video scene analysis component uses, as input, the video from the video cameras todetect the number of people present within the platform as well as the presence of the train.The information is then transferred to an application server that performs the tracking andsends a message to another server responsible to process events and to update the i-Tourdatabase. The system has been calibrated through pre-recorded video from real surveillancecameras at the designated station, and it will soon be installed and become operational,providing live information on crowding conditions at stations’ platforms. Additionally thesystem is capable to detect the presence of the train at station, on top of information on peoplewaiting for it, to be generate real-time information on train arrivals. All the aforementioned information, being stored within the i-Tour database, becomeavailable to the routing service, illustrated in the following sections, which uses them tocalculate the best travel solution on the basis of current system conditions and userpreferences.The middlewareIf compared to standard SDIs, i-Tour, from the logical point of view, features a middlewarelayer (Figure 21) organised into two logical sub-levels. The lower level is necessary to ensurefunctions such as authentication, or access to data (e.g. to raster, vector and alphanumeric data)from the client software components through OWS (OGC® Web-service). In particular thislevel comprises low-level services deployed through proprietary and FOSS enterprise platformscapable to ensure compliancy with W3C or OGC standards, with specific reference to OWSsuch as Web Map Service (WMS), or Web Feature Service (WFS). However i-Tour goes beyond this by proposing a further layer logically located athigher level, hosting more complex processing functionalities, as service, required to providethe following services: 1) Natural Language Interaction (NLP) service; 2) recommender service;3) route planner service; 4) activity scheduler service; 5) emission estimation service; 6)preference representation and learning service. Each component of the layer is conceived as an autonomous functional entity (asa service), exchanging results and data with the others through RMI, XML or SOAP messages.In this way it is possible to build a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), with the main advantageof having the opportunity to deal with a modular logical layer where each component can beeasily changed or extended to adapt to the different datasets and requirements withoutinterrupting the provided service. SDI, Communities and Social Media 81

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Figure 21: A logical overview of the middleware, which is split in two layers The NLP service operates as man-in-the-middle between the user and the system toensure a friendlier user experience through support of natural language. This way the user canformulate articulated travel queries without being forced to use menus, lists or checkboxes, asin traditional WebGIS applications. The client in fact supports typing of queries through freetext. Alternatively the user can speak a command using their mobile phone. The voicecommand is then sent to Google Voice service that returns, as text, the interpreted message.The free text is sent by the client together with additional contextual data, most notably thelocation to the user, to the natural language processing service. Communication is based onstandard XML-based web service interface. The routing service is being conceived by considering the greater level of freedomtypical of pedestrians, who are not bound by lanes, as they can walk over sidewalks etc. Therouting system is based on concurrent use of several transport networks, all connected within aso-called supernetwork. This ensures accurate modelling of the environment at higher detail ifcompared with traditional navigation systems accounting, for instance, for issues such asconnections between different train platforms etc. Providing an extensive description of the routing algorithm is beyond the scope of thischapter. An in-depth description can be found within previous works by the authors of therouting algorithm (Zhang et al. 2011), who are partners of i-Tour. Nevertheless within thiscontext, it is worth illustrating, at high level, the features of the system as indeed they allowsignificant advancements when compared to routing features traditionally proposed bystandard SDIs. In particular the route planner service has been engineered to generate, fora given trip, a number of route-choice alternatives across several transport networks, bothpublic and private. Based on data of the user, the presented alternatives are ranked ina suggested preference order. The model is capable to handle routing queries across private aswell as public transport networks, accounting for information such as real-time transportnetwork status (e.g. traffic, crowding levels), user preferences etc. The approach followed in i-Tour is based on a high-level abstract modelling of theoverall multimodal transport network whereby transfer links are used to represent a modalitytransfer (e.g. from bus to train etc.). This technique has been based on the so-calledsupernetwork approach. Within such a high-level network there are both physical nodes andevent nodes. The former have attributes such as distance, time, speed, quality etc. The latterincorporate timetables of services and represent arrival and departing at a given stop or station.The multimodal network is classified into private (e.g. foot, car, bike) and public modes (e.g. 82 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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bus, train etc.). The modelling has been based on a generalised cost function that can account not onlyfor time required to get from a node to another, but also for cost, quality of service (e.g.crowding levels or other ratings provided by the users), as well as other conditions. It should benoted that in the context of this task i-Tour has developed various approaches to consider andmodel all these parameters in an automatic way, based on conjoint analysis through statedchoice experiments or through implicit observations of travel choices based on real orsimulated cases. Most notably it should be noted that the approach developed is totally agnostic withregard to static vs. real-time data. In fact, in i-Tour, real-time (dynamic) information isretrieved by the various web services and then stored in the database. Since the algorithmdeveloped simply uses the latest current “snapshot” stored within the database, thisintrinsically ensures that each routing request is performed on top of the most recentinformation available. The route planner relies on a further high-level service, closely bound to the former,which deals with activity scheduling. This service is responsible for identification of scheduleconflicts or opportunities for a user and for presenting alternative solutions for adapting thecurrent schedule in a suggested preference order. A further service, which is invoked whenever appropriate by the route planner, is usedto estimate emissions, both in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) and particulate matter (PM),caused by each trip. The algorithm implemented by the service is based on the latest existingCOPERT European standard (version 4), which provides a database of parameters related tovehicle emissions, which are constantly updated to account for new vehicles. The emissionestimation service is invoked by the route planner both to identify travel choices with lesserenvironmental footprint -in terms of emission-, as well as to provide information on emissionnecessary to travel by private transport. It should be noted that this information is then used by the client, which will beintroduced in the last part of this chapter, to promote incentive strategies based on the amountof C02 and PM saved by travelling onx public transport or other sustainable forms (e.g.walking or cycling) in place of private cars. Finally the routing system relies on a further service that ensures preferencerepresentation and learning functionalities. The service is invoked to estimate specific travelpreferences based on actual travel choices of the user, which are fed back to the system.Extension of OpenLSIt is important to highlight that the communication between the multi-modal routing serviceand the client will be ensured through an OpenLS communication interface. OpenGIS® OpenLocation Services Interface Standard (OpenLS) is a standard protocol, developed by the OpenGeospatial Consortium, that enables development of interoperable Location Based Services(LBS). However the current OpenLS routing specifications have been essentially designed foruni-modal journeys, that is based on a single transportation mode, essentially motorised SDI, Communities and Social Media 83

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vehicles or user walking. As no support is provided for more complex multi-modal routing theuse of OpenLS routing features in the context of public transport is rather limited. i-Tour hasthus proposed and developed an extension of the current standards in order to account for therequirement of multi-modal travels. The extension developed also propose introduction of more articulated user profilingfor the travellers to be able to define their travel preferences beyond standard fastest andshortest routes, to be able to deal with preferences regarding the accessibility of a route, thedegree of physical fatigue required to travel along a given route, as well as the degree ofenvironmental-friendliness –in terms of CO2 or Particulate Matter (PM)- of a given travelsolution.The application levelAt the highest level of the logical stack of i-Tour we find the clients. In particular two clientshave been developed: one, to be used within a desktop environment (Figure 22) and a second,most relevantly, developed as App for android-powered smartphones or tablets (Figure 23). Itshould be noted that both clients are engineered to deliver a ubiquitous experience. In fact oneof the most relevant requirement set at the beginning of the project was to develop a systemthat would allow users to seamlessly migrate from a desktop PC to a smartphone. The usershould literally be able to turn off the PC, turn on the smartphone and retrieve the last currentstate within the App.Figure 22: A screenshot of the web-client 84 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 23: Few images of the i-Tour mobile client: a) the main interface providing access to allfunctionalities; b) an image of the 3D view during routing (maps and routes are available asOWS); c) a 3D view of the scheduler showing connections between places where an appointment isscheduled; d) an image of the augmented reality mode whereby geographical information isoverlaid on top of images of the surrounding scene as captured by the mobile phone camera This has been greatly facilitated by the adoption of a service-oriented architecture. Infact in i-Tour all the relevant information, that as a whole create the user’s current “state”, aremanaged at central level, with the client only managing local data. This centralised approachensures that whenever the user moves from one device to another the current state is alwaysmaintained. Furthermore the graphical layout of both desktop and mobile clients have beendesigned to ensure a consistent experience both in graphical terms as well as in terms ofprovided functionalities. However, given the great relevance paid to the nomadic nature ofa personal mobility assistant, the reminder of this section will specifically focus on the mobileapplication. As illustrated in Figure 23-a the main interface of the system allows the user toappreciate the most relevant information regarding his/her travel solution. The upper part ofthe screen is devoted to information on current trip, represented by a set of segments each withan associated icon showing the various transport mode, and to real time data such as weather.At any time the user can access further information on the remainder of the trip, for instanceregarding connection times, expected time of arrival etc. At any time the user can also select the map mode and appreciate the route in 2D or 3D(see Figure 23-b) with the underground mapping information being sent as standard OGCWMS and WFS services. Furthermore the client can operate in augmented reality mode asshown in Figure 23-d. In this case the images captured by the camera of the smartphone areused as background for virtual content, regarding the trip or the surrounding environment,which are rendered on top of the images of the scene, properly aligned to ensure visualconsistency. Whenever the user formulates a routing request, this is sent to the aforementioned SDI, Communities and Social Media 85

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service that returns the various options available to the client, which in turn shows them to theuser in the form of a graph, as illustrated in Figure 24. The centre of the graph represents thecurrent position of the user while various-leaves of the graph all represent the (same) finaldestination of the user. The graph shows the various travel options divided by journey’s legs.The distance of the various nodes from the centre can represent either the time needed to get todestination, the distance, the cost or the environmental footprint. This way it becomes veryeasy for the user to identify, among the various options available to get from A to B, the mostsuitable to the user’s needs. The graph is also designed to quickly inform the user about thetransport means for each leg of the journey, about the quality of service as rated by the varioususers, the possible congestion level. Figure 24: The graph-based interface used to select the best travel option Furthermore the system can be used to provide feedback about the surroundingenvironment, following a true crowdsourcing approach. A thorough description of therecommender system is outside the scope of this chapter and can be read from (Mashhadi &Capra 2011). Through the mobile client the user can rate (Figure 25) both points of interests(e.g. restaurants, shops etc.) as well as transport network facilities including, for instance,a given bus or train. This information, properly validated by the system according to their levelof trust, is then used to ensure the best recommendation to the user. The user can also updateinformation such as opening times. The user can also provide information on events en-routesuch as strike, traffic, markets, roadblocks, etc. 86 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 25: The rating interface One of the most relevant features of the client, from a societal perspective, is thepromotion of sustainable travel choices. The cornerstone of this is a “credit” mechanism, basedon the amount of CO2 and PM saved by the user travelling on public transport or othersustainable means (e.g. walking or cycling), which is used to create a positive feedback loopmechanism based on low environmental footprint. The information on the CO2 and PM isretrieved through the aforementioned service responsible for calculation of emissions. Thecredit accrued by the user can be then exchange for awards of various types such as free ticketsor other awards. Following the same approach the client allows various forms of so-called serious games,also referred to as DEG or Digital Educational Games. Leaving aside for a moment the issue ofthe didactical relevance of DEG, most authors acknowledge that Digital Educational Games areextremely effective at building motivation among players (Prensky 2007). Within this contextin i-Tour the motivational factor is extremely important since the personal mobility systembecomes a motivating factor to promote use of public transport. This has been done by integrating a commercial game engine with the clientapplication. A strictly formalised communication protocol between the travel assistantcomponent and the game engine ensures that any third party software producer can extendfeatures of the system by developing new games, provided they comply with the specificationsof the system. The tight integration ensures that points acquired through games promotinggreen transportation can be exchanged for real credits to be used by the traveller. Viceversa theuser can use credits accrued through travelling within the public transport networks to acquireextra features within the gaming environment. Last but not least the serious game attitude has been extended with the geographicaldimension. Following approaches already fostered by popular social networks such asFourSquare, travellers, or in this case players, can rent a virtual representation of a real placewithin the public network infrastructure. A player could, for instance, rent “virtually” from thetransport provider a certain area within a station in exchange for “real” credits accrued throughtheir travels. The cost of the lease will depend on the location of the area, extent and durationof the lease and by a factor price to be defined by the transport operator. Once a traveller, or SDI, Communities and Social Media 87

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player, becomes the owner of the virtual space, he/she can use it to showcase special awards,already achieved through gaming, to the communities of other peer players passing by thatvery location in the real world. For instance player A could decide to rent for two weeks anarea of 100 meters radius at a given station to showcase particular awards gained by playing ata given game. Player B when passing by that station, would be prompted that player A isselling, at a given price, special awards that would allow him/her to achieve better results. Ifaccepted, the credit paid by player B to purchase the special feature is transferred to theaccount of player A. All these mechanisms have been designed to leverage on sustainable travelbehaviour potentially creating, at the same time, new business models based on location basedservices.ConclusionsThis chapter has illustrated the results of the i-Tour project. This has extended the traditionalconcept of SDI with more advanced functionalities required to provide a routing mechanismcustomised to the user’s preferences which uses the various public networks available. Furthermore, from the societal point of view, the system moves a step further throughthe development of a mechanism to promote sustainable travel behaviours at urban level. Thisis done through a rewarding mechanism promoting low-impact travel choices based on publictransport. These results have been achieved through the extension of the traditional concept ofSDI, by providing more advanced functionalities, as services, necessary to ensurerecommendations, routing over multimodal networks, natural language interaction andemission models. The services typical of traditional SDIs, such as WMS, WFS have beenextensively used as well as more advanced OWS including OpenLS. Most notably the latter hasbeen extended to ensure support of multimodal routing and recommendation functionalities,originally not foreseen by the existing standard, and which are key to i-Tour. The first deployments of the system, made in cooperation with several transportproviders in Italy, namely in the areas of Naples and Trento, show positive results in a realoperational environment.AcknowledgmentsThe research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’sSeventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the Grant Agreement number234239. The authors are solely responsible for it and that it does not represent the opinion ofthe Community and that the Community is not responsible for any use that might be made ofinformation contained therein. The authors would like to acknowledge the following people for their contribution tothe development activities which have been referred to within this chapter: Prof Licia Caprafrom University College London with regard to the recommender system (recsys), Ms AnitaFiorentino from Fiat Group Automobiles with regard to the data model, Mr Davide Cali fromULA Srl with regard to the NLP interface, Prof Theo Arentze from Technical UniversityEindhoven (TUE) with regard to route planner, activity scheduler, emission estimation andpreference representation, Mr Wolfgang Kipp from PTV Mobility & Logistics with regard to i-Tour system integration. 88 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Charging for environmental data: when, when not, whoand who notPepijn van Oort1, Arnold Bregt21 Wageningen University, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AKWageningen, The Netherlands, e. pepijn.vanoort@wur.nl2 Wageningen University, Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing, P.O. box47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The NetherlandsSummaryShould users pay for access to environmental data produced by governments and institutes?This question has fed a long lasting and heated debate that is often coloured by contributionsfully in favour or fully opposed to free access. We observe a risk of stagnation in this debate inwhich proponents of either funding model do not leave their stance, leaving policy makersmore confused than informed on what funding model to choose. Based on an extensive reviewand acknowledging that there is no one-size-fits all funding model we have developed a simpleframework for choosing between funding models. In most cases free-access is to preferred, butthere are clear exceptions in which charging is viable and recommendable.IntroductionThe digital revolution is increasing the ease with which people can access, copy and re-usedigital data (Litman 2000). As a result there is a growing demand for making informationbetter accessible (Groot and McLaughlin 2000, Williamson et al. 2003, Nebert 2004, Masser2005, Goodchild et al. 2007). Apart from technical issues and lack of standardisation, access isimpeded or restricted through legislation (Kabel 2000). Legislation comes at two levels. At thefirst level it is decided whether data should be openly accessible or not. This broader debate ondemocratic rights, privacy and national security is beyond the scope of this chapter (e.g. seeHalchin 2002, Seifert and Relyea 2004, Davis 2005, Tombs 2005 and Otjacques et al. 2007,Burdon 2009). Given that the outcome of political debate is open access the second levelrequires the decision whether to charge or not. In order to be effective data charging policiesneed to be backed up by copyright legislation. We define Public Sector Information (PSI) as information needed, collected, stored andmanaged, to support one or more legally mandated tasks. PSI datasets are funded from taxmoney. Some PSI datasets are collected only once or at longer intervals (eg soil maps, roads),others are regularly updated (eg weather, land rights). While primarily produced in order toenable government to produce specific public goods, PSI often turn out to be of value forunintended users inside government, in the private sector, in non-governmental organisationsand for citizens. This is often the case for environmental datasets. The big question is: should one pay for the access to these datasets? This question hasbeen subject of a longstanding debate (Onsrud 1992a, 1992b, 1998, Onsrud and Rushton 1995,Johnson and Onsrud 1995, Lopez 1998, Rhind 1992, 1999, 2000, Weiss 2002, Klinkenberg2003, Longhorn and Blakemore 2004, Joffe 2005 and Van Loenen 2006, van Oort and Bregt2010). This debate, which occurs mostly outside the scientific journals, is scattered and SDI, Communities and Social Media 91

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complex, with compelling arguments in favour and against data charging. The debate is largelyabout two issues. Firstly about to what extent funding should come indirectly from taxes andto what extent it should come directly from non-governmental users (companies, citizens,ngo’s, researchers). Secondly the debate is about the pros and cons of government agenciescharging each other. We now have almost 20 years of research on the issue but no conclusive answer to thequestion we started with. Meanwhile, we have seen three major developments: 1. A growing bottom-up and free compilation of data, often but not necessarily grounded on reference maps provided in Google Earth. A common term in this field is VGI, voluntary geographic information (Goodchild 2008) 2. The distribution costs have gone down dramatically thanks to the advance of the internet and world wide web and maps produced in or converted to digital formats 3. Many governments or institutes have moved towards free-access policies but equally many are still charging for access (Joffe 2005, Blakemore and Craglia 2006). As a result, one may find that inferior quality free data are used because users cannot afford superior quality but priced governmental data Research on funding models tends to suggest that overall free-access is the superiorfunding model, although there are also convincing papers pointing in a different direction(Onsrud 1992b, Longhorn and Blakemore 2004). Quite possibly both camps (“to charge or notto charge”) are right in their own respect, i.e. there is no one-size-fits-all funding model. Oncewe acknowledge this our next step should be to clearly and systematically identify individualcases and for each case the ideal funding model. A systematic overview of such cases iscurrently lacking and will be presented in the next section.A framework for choosing between funding modelsMany arguments in favour and against free-access have been put forward in the literature.Validity of arguments and their underlying assumptions have been discussed, sometimes moreand sometimes with less rigour. Below we summarise the key issues. In brackets references forfurther reading are added. The bulleted list is in no particular order Factual comparison of pro’s and con’s of different funding models is very difficult, dueto methodological problems. PSI are used to produce public goods (crime fighting, roadmaintenance, protection of property rights, etc). Thus the costs may be easy to quantify but thebenefits may be quite impossible to quantify. Asking the question “how much would is cost tocomplete this task with/without PSI” also does not work because people find it very difficult toanswer such questions. Comparisons between countries with and without pricing will beconfounded by other differences between countries. Asking informants is also a trickybusiness because often the best informed people also have a stake in the debate (the have-notswant free-access, the data chargers stress the value of data charging). [Onsrud 1998, OXERA1999, Lopez 1998, Pira 2000, Weiss 2002, van Loenen 2006, Rhind 1999] PSI production is expensive, therefore PSI tends to be produced by a limited number ofproducers. Competition as an economic principle that drives prices down and drivesproducers to take into account users’ needs does not work in this setting, because there is 92 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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a monopoly from the supply side. The exception is when PSI is still in the development phase.The go-no go decision still needs to be made and depends on whether there is sufficientdemand for this new PSI from users within government (the prime PSI users). [King 1995,Rhind 1992] Charging users on first sight generates extra funding. On second sight though it reducesthe number of users, thereby the chances of a commercial value-adders and it can lead to lessinformed decision-making. The revenues generated through charging are more easilyquantified than the indirect revenues that come from enhanced access. [Pira 2000, Weiss 2002,Klinkenberg 2003, Batty 2006] Is charging feasible at all, considering the ease of which digital data are copied anddistributed and considering what happened to the music industry? And do the costs ofcharging weigh-up against the benefits? The answer to these questions depend on thetransaction costs. Selling a license to one big user in one single transaction minimises thetransaction costs per user. Charging individual users is gives far higher transaction costs.Likewise, prosecuting one big copyright violator (e.g. a large company) is financially viable,identifying and prosecuting individuals for copyright violation is not. [Onsrud 1992b , King1995, Sanders 2006, Litman 2000, Longhorn and Blakemore (2004), Anderson 2006] For commercial users, developing value-added product based on PSI is a risky business.It is not evident from the start that customers will embrace a new product. The fact that PSI arenot principally produced as input for these novel products implies that they are not necessarilysuitable as input. They may require additional processing costs and they may turn out not to beuseful after all. Charging in this stage of product development may scare of start-up companiesand reduce the chance that from many trials eventually some successful products emerge. Once commercial users have developed a successful new PSI-based product chargingcan be viable: if the price is not too high they still make profits. Moreover they are buildinga product based on tax-funded PSI so it seems fair to let some of the money flow back to thetreasurer. And finally it is well feasible at this stage to implement a copyright policy (seeabove). For non-commercial users (citizen’s, NGO’s, researchers) the price that can be chargedis generally so low that the transaction costs will unlikely outweigh the benefits. Moreover onecould argue that since the PSI is funded with their tax money, why should they be doublecharged? From the above summary we distil two key variables along which validity of argumentsin favour of data charging varies: 1. User types: government, commercial (companies) and non-profit (citizens, NGO’s, researchers); 2. Product phases: development & production. SDI, Communities and Social Media 93

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Our framework (Table 3) identifies for all combinations of user types and productphases the ideal funding model.Table 3: Recommended funding models dependent on user type and production phaseConclusion & discussionMost publications cited in the introduction of this chapter have focussed on answering the bigquestion “to charge or not to charge”. This resulted in a mixed picture, some concluding thatin many cases data charging has its merits, most others concluding that overall free access is tobe preferred. The novelty of this chapter is that we clearly and systematically identify differentcases and for each case the ideal funding model. In some cases charging is preferred, in othersfree access is preferred. The rationale for this framework was grounded in a review of theliterature. In the last decade we have seen to two major developments related to the topic of thischapter. Firstly the 9/11 terrorist attacks which have prompted policies to make data lessaccessible for reasons of national security. We argued such decision making occurs at a levelbefore the data charging decision. It does become an issue when unreasonable national securityarguments are used to ban access to environmental data. While the political debate on nationalsecurity and implications for data access is of great importance, it was not the topic of thischapter. The second major development has been the emergence of free of charge datasets (e.g.open street map, google earth, online route navigation systems) and lowering of costs ofsharing data over the internet. In the internet economy (Anderson 2006) the common business 94 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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model is free access for most users and a select group of users paying for advanced services (e.g.google earth pro, road datasets incorporated in navigation hardware installed in vehicles).Many free datasets show similarities with existing PSI. One could argue that their mereexistence is evidence of the failure of governments and institutes to make their own PSI betteravailable to the public. The presence of such free of charge non-PSI datasets adds a newdimension to the debate on data charging. Citizens, NGO’s, private companies andgovernment agencies increasingly demand for PSI to be made freely available. Again, we riskof ending up with the tragedy of the commons so eloquently described by Onsrud (1998).Onsrud feared that if one government agency would charge the other, then to recover the coststhis second government agency would also need to charge others for access to its’ own PSI. Inthe end everyone would be charging every one. Some would not be able to pay the price, thusreducing the number of users. Prices would need to go up even further to recover the costs,which would in turn lead to even less people using the PSI. Now, we see the same threatcoming from a different direction: restrictive pricing policies for PSI may drive users to free ofcharge online data, eroding the user base of PSI and in the end public support for tax fundedPSI. The counter measure is in most cases simple: free access. The framework that we havepresented is in line with evolving insights in the internet economy (Litman 2000, Anderson2006). Our framework recommends free access for the majority of users and for a few users,where feasible and justifiable, we recommend data charging.ReferencesAnderson, C. 2006 The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More. Hyperion.Batty, M., 2006. Public sector information: chains of added value. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 33(2): 163-164.Blakemore, M. and Craglia, M., 2006. Access to Public Sector Information in Europe: Policy, Rights, and Obligations. The Information Society 22(1): 13-24.Burdon, M., 2009. Commercializing public sector information: Privacy and security concerns. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine 28(1): 34-40.Davis, C.N., 2005. Expanding privacy rationales under the federal freedom of information act: Stigmatization as Talisman. Social Science Computer Review 23(4): 453-462.Goodchild, M.F., Fu, P. And Rich, P., 2007. Sharing geographic information: An assessment of the geospatial one-stop. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 97(2): 250-266.Goodchild, M. F., 2008. Commentary: Whither VGI? GeoJournal 72(3–4), 239–244. doi:10.1007/s10708- 008-9190-4.Groot, R. and McLaughlin, J. (eds.), 2000. Geospatial Data Infrastructure: Concepts, Cases and Good Practice. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.Halchin, L.E., 2002. Electronic government in the age of terrorism. Government Information Quarterly 19(3): 243-254.Joffe, B., 2005. Ten Ways to Support Your GIS Without Selling Data. URISA Journal, 16(2): 27-33.Johnson, J. P. and Onsrud, H.J., 1995. “Is cost recovery worthwhile?” Proceedings of the Annual Conference of URISA. San Antonio, TX: URISA Journal (1): 126-136.Kabel, J.,2000. GDI from a legal perspective. In: Groot, R. and MacLaughlin, J. (eds.) Geospatial data infrastructure : concepts, cases, and good practice. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 26-38.King, J.L., 1995. Problems in Public Access Policy for GIS databases. In: Onsrud, H.J. and Rushton, G. (eds.) Sharing Geographic Information, Center for Urban Policy Research, New Brunswick, USA, 255-276.Klinkenberg, B., 2003. The true cost of spatial data in Canada. The Canadian Cartographer 47(1): 37-49.Litman, J., 2000. Digital copyright. Prometheus Books, 208 p. SDI, Communities and Social Media 95

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User centric design for SDI architectureKarel Charvat, Gregorio Urquía Osorio, Lisa Maurer, Peteris Bruns, Anda Ikaunice, JohnO’Flaherty, Andrea Scianna, Filip Hajek, Marek Mlcousek, Jan BojkoHabitats Project (www.inspiredhabitats.eu/)IntroductionHABITATS project (Social Validation of INSPIRE Annex III Data Structures in EU Habitats)focuses on the adoption of INSPIRE standards through a participatory process to design andvalidate Data, Metadata and Services Specifications with real citizens and business. To address this, the HABITATS consortium of 10 partners, including content providers,users and service providers builds a trans-European social network to generate usage scenariosand requirements and assess the impact of project outcomes, to directly feed into interactivedata/metadata modelling of the four INSPIRE Annex III data themes 16-19. Widespread uservalidation is grounded in 7 pilot services covering these data themes across Europe and led bycontent-providing partners. The validation pilots are formed by multi-stakeholder partnerships where users activelyparticipate in the co-design of the network services, develop on-demand for integration intothe pilot service mash-up platforms. Validation pilot partnerships develop and testorganisational/institutional arrangements for service sustainability and business models thatunderpin the project’s exploitation strategy. Specific and realistic quantified indicators measurethe envisaged improvements in availability, access and use. The HABITATS network of services allows users to identify, access, use/reuse, in aninteroperable and seamless way, aggregated geographical information covering much ofEurope and coming from a wide range of sources, from local to European level, resulting in: a) Data/metadata models for INSPIRE b) Network Service architecture, applet set & invoking service toolkit; c) Seven validated pilot services for concrete usage scenarios; d) Service/business models and exploitation plans for long-term viability; e) HABITATS user community social network to accompany the standards adoption process & spread the project’s impact throughout Europe. Important part of the project is to define an architecture (platform neutral) forHABITATS and the basic set of networking services which will be an extension of existingINSPIRE services, for the management, discovery, sharing and processing of spatial planningdata by public and commercial sector, NGOs, citizens, private sector, education and science,and all those who play an important role in biodiversity and see regional protection and alsoexploitation. The objective of this task is to define such architecture for SDI, which will alloweffective management of sensitive areas, research in these areas, and also promotion of theseregions. HABITATS defined the tools and interfaces by which the different parties will be able SDI, Communities and Social Media 97

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to manage, discovery, share and reuse spatial data. Architecture design was realised on the base of a Reference Model of Open DistributedProcessing (RM-ODP) (ISO/IEC 10746-1). This model is the architecture reference modelused also within ISO/TC 211 “Geographic Information – Reference model” [ISO 19101:2002],and on Open Geospatial Consortium Reference Model (ORM). The use of RM-ODP gave ustwo opportunities: To define the basic design of the solution as platform neutral and to support differentlocal implementation. This is important, because the objective of the document D4.2 is not todescribe one unique technology solution, but to give general models, which could be used bydifferent organisation across Europe. These models are then demonstrated on selected pilotcases that are part of the project, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of such solution. To build on positive experiences of previous European research projects, as thismethodology is used by most European (mainly research) projects and somerecommendations already exist. A previous analysis demonstrates that the basic principles forINSPIRE, GEOSS and GMES projects are very similar and that some basic building blockscould easily be re-used in different applications. Our objective is to extend these models tomake them more oriented towards actual user needs. An important part of the methodology was to divide design of generic architecture andpilot dependent architecture. On the basis of user requirements, generic use cases will bedefined and generic services will be designed for these generic use cases, which will be reusablefor different pilot solutions. On the basis of these generic services pilot applications will bedefined, which will be composed from generic services. Generic services will be available fordevelopers so they can implement specific user applications using these generic services.Important is that these applications can reuse existing components.PilotsThe pilots fall into the three forward-looking categories described above as follows: 1. Management of natural resources 1. Wild Salmon Monitoring (IE) 2. La Palma Protected Marine Area (ES) 2. Eco-tourism 1. Hiking Trip Planner (IT) 2. Natural Reserve (ES) 3. Economic activities 1. Sheep and Goat Herd Management (IT) 2. Economical activity at marine coastal benthic habitats (LV) 4. National policy 1. Czech National Forest Programme (CZ) 98 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Each of these validation pilots relies on trans-regional and trans-European data sharingbetween pilot settings within INSPIRE networks presented in the project, and withcollaborating members of the HABITATS User Communities.Wild Salmon MonitoringIreland has the best practice in Salmon Conservation and Management – so the processes anddata-structures used in Ireland have pan-European significance for INSPIRE, and so are veryrelevant for the HABITATS project, and should also help to promote Irish fishing acrossEurope. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) have taken over responsibility for coordinating themonitoring and conservation of wild salmon in Ireland. MAC is working with the IFI NationalSalmon Monitoring Programme, Salmon Scientific Standing Committee, and other involvedagencies such as the Irish Marine Institute (MI) to develop a Salmon Conservation Limitsportal, to pilot the use of the HABITATS INSPIRE metadata profile, and bottom-up socialvalidation process to improve presentation, accessibility and use of the data that is beingcollected, and get better buy-in by all stakeholders (particularly scientists, anglers, and anglingrelated businesses) to be aware of, understand and engage in the salmon conservationprocedures, regulations and catch limitations that are set each year. This provides betterintelligence to researchers, fishermen and decision makers on salmon conservation, so thatthey can better manage the wild-salmon resource in a sustainable manner and help prevent theextinction of wild salmon in rivers on the North Atlantic coast of Europe. Once operational inIreland the process will be scaled up in collaboration with the FP7 SALSEA-Merge projectwhich is investigating the migration and distribution of salmon in the North-East Atlantic,working with the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO). To explore use of the HABITATS approach, the initial Irish Salmon CL pilot is focusingon one specific area and community (such as a catchment or sub-catchment), where users canlink to the various data for that area, including a range of static data (such as catch regulations,WFD fish data, water quality etc) as well as more dynamic data partially generated by usersthemselves there (e.g. by online listing of their catches etc). Part (or a tributary) of the riverNore in the South-East of Ireland could be a good pilot site, as discussions with the communityof active local groups and stakeholders there are proving to be quite positive. However the finalpilot location is to be made by the IFI in the coming weeks.La Palma Protected Marine AreaProtected Marine Areas (PMA) are areas where it is intended to maintain a highenvironmental quality in order to protect and even regenerate the flora and fauna in the area.For the development of this pilot, the La Palma’s Protected Marine Reserve (Canary Islands) inthe Atlantic Sea has been chosen. The island of La Palma is suffering from a peculiarenvironmental sea degradation due to the coast plantations (basically banana plantations). The objective of this pilot is to develop a system based on ICT to automatically controlthe environment. The system will get data based on indicators from the coast area of the PMA,then process them, analysed them and make them available so the authorities can take the bestdecisions. Data can be obtained through the use of sensors or, like in the case of the flora and SDI, Communities and Social Media 99

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fauna data, with human intervention. When using sensors and in order to make it simple forour purpose, the coast area of this PMA has been divided into two sub-areas that will bedefined as open sea (not more than 600 m from the coast) and border sea. With the samecriteria, indicators that we will take into account will be: biological parameters or physical-chemical parameters and only the three among the most relevant ones will be taken for eachone of the sub-areas.Natural ReserveThis pilot is going to be developed for a small area in Madrid (Spain), El Campo del Moro, butthe strength of the pilot is that if a standardization of the data and metadata modelling for thiskind of environmental tourism is defined, some other standards will appear for the specifichardware that is needed for its representation, and the idea of environmental tourism couldequally be developed in the whole Europe. The objective within a Nature Restricted Areas(NRA), as the European Nature 2000 Network defines it, is the survival of species in danger ofextinction, contributing at the same time to soften the impact of human activities. They are theinstrument to nature conservation in the European Union. For the development of this pilotobviously it is not possible to choose a NRA, but for the purposes of this pilot an interestingplace has been chosen in Madrid. The objective of this pilot is to develop a system that, usingreal nature information and adding metadata to real images (texts, images, sounds, etc.), allowsimproving environmental tourism with a real nature observation. Introducing interpretationinformation and augmented reality we will particularly protect fragile areas. Environmentalinformation can be used in a wide range of areas apart from environmental education ornature interpretation, it can also be used for historical or cultural heritage, evaluation of newedification impact, etc.Hiking Trip PlannerThe Madonie Park in Sicily attracts thousands of visitors every year, including hikers whoexplore the mostly mountainous 35,000 hectares; there are 6 mountains over 1,500m andseveral others well over 1,000m. The highest, Pizzo Carbonara is 1,979m, second in Sicily onlyto the mighty Etna (3,323m). Hikers are attracted, in addition to the landscape, particularly by the park’s flora andwildlife. Indeed, there are over 2,600 different species of plants, many of which are endemic tothe area. The Park Authority is currently developing a multimedia repertory of many of thepark’s main features – including both natural elements and places of traditional farming andherding – and, in the context of on-going initiatives, is developing an interactive multimediamap of the area that will allow hikers to plan visits as a function of the natural elements to see.The validation pilot in HABITATS will integrate habitats-related data into this map, to allow toview bio-geographical regions within the park. In addition, use of mobile platforms (wherecoverage is available) will also be tested. Finally, the currently planned facility allowing forusers to upload multimedia content and insert comments and suggestions, will be enhanced tovalidate the possibility for users to insert content through the SDI.100 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Sheep and Goat Herding ManagementIn the Madonie Park, over 1,500m is dominated by the Madonie Forest while lower down theslopes, the locals continue to pursue millennial agricultural activities including sheep and cattlefarming and the cultivation of wheat, olives and fruit. This gives rise to specific traditions suchas the seasonal “transumanza” when herds are moved from their summer to winter pasturesand back, and contributes to the Madonie’s gastronomic specialties of meat, sausages, salami,cheese, olives, mushrooms, and fresh seasonal vegetables. Grazing, as is well known, has a significant environmental impact and therefore needsto be carefully managed in order to guarantee the long-term sustainability of the grazinghabitat. For this reason, the Park Authority adopted a grazing plan and releases licences;according to the grazing plan the Park Authority rotates the assignment and utilization ofgrazing areas in order to not damage areas of environmental interest with an excessivepressure due to the presence of herding activities. All this should be carried out also by addingnew layers on the current condition of pastures and other environmental parameters regardingthe same areas. Besides the Park Authority is responsible for other actions of monitoring,maintaining the necessary fencing and other infrastructures, etc. This management activityuses the Park’s GIS system, but the decision-making processes, in the past has been generallybased on experience and implicit knowledge. The validation pilot provided updatedenvironmental data to support better informed decisions, but it is also be a starting point toregulate the production of data according to Inspire recommendations.Economical activity at marine coastal benthic habitatsIMCS will cooperate with the Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology using the monitoring data ofcoastal benthic communities and related environmental parameters. The needs andrequirements of various stakeholders will be researched and afterwards IMCS will pilot the useof advanced interfaces to improve presentation, accessibility and use of the data. It will help indecision making for port construction measures, fisheries policy, wind mill developmentactions in order to use the benthic habitats in a sustainable way. The benthic habitats in Latviancoastal waters are the areas with the highest biological diversity and partly covered byNATURA 2000 territories. The data on composition, abundance and dynamics of the benthiccommunities together with the related environmental parameters (physico-chemicalmeasurements) collected by the Institute of Aquatic Ecology, will be made accessible toprovide scientifically based information to various stakeholders carrying out different types ofeconomical activity at the coastal areas of Latvian marine waters. The data collection is part ofthe Latvian National environmental policy, according to EU Water Framework Directive andHabitats Directive. It is vaguely represented online and therefore the HABITATS pilot willexplore making it available as an online service.National Forest ProgrammeThe purpose of this use case to deliver and share the harmonised forest site data to be used asbasis for the definition of the suitable forest management practices. The geographic data of theforest site classification describe the permanent ecological conditions, ie. division of forestsinto segments with similar growth conditions. The outputs of forest site classification serves asa basis for determining the economic measures, and operational and production goals (Forest SDI, Communities and Social Media 101

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management plans, forest management scheme). The importance of the outputs of foresttypology was further strengthened in the new political-economic-environmental conditions,which has also become the basis for the evaluation functions of forest ecosystems, forestvaluation, or the creation of management plans for specially protected areas. Timber transport technologies have the direct connection (link) with natural conditionsof the site. According to the forest road network can be constructed the basic infrastructure foraccess to forest site and is important for forest management. Based on transport accessingforestry harvesting technologies, silvicultural treatment and forest road network areconstructed. Background of Joint rescue service aimed at navigation improvement for rescueservice access in the forest complex (e.g. fire) is another significant area of model analysis interms of Habitats project. The information from the FMI forest road network database servethe integrated rescue system to localize and reach the event of forest fire in short time. Thefurther information derived from the forest site maps (SLT) and digital terrain model (DTM)enhances the driver’s orientation and time estimations. As there are similar activities in otherthe neighbouring countries (Slovakia, Austria), this pilot scenario can be used for the cross-border cooperation within the Habitats project.Cross pilot use casesWe recognise, that there exist list of use cases, which are valid cross scenarios. This use casesdemonstrate mainly needs for data harmonisation. We recognise common use cases focusedon tourism. Education, environment protection and researchPilot Actors Pilot actors include stakeholders participating on management of platform, data ownersand producers and contributors to services and user groups of all pilots. Here are list of pilotsactors:Generic actors and usersGeneric actors (Table 4) could be organisations, individuals or groups of individuals witha common interest on the functionality of HABITATS solutions. They will play a role in thedeployment and utilisation of the HABITATS infrastructure. Users Description Activities Non Users, who can use HABITATS − Uses services without registration; registered system without registration for End User searching and accessing o Search for data information in infrastructure o Search for information and using public services o Personal content composition o Visualise information o Downloaded free information o Use free services. Registered Users, who are registered in o Search for data User infrastructure. They can search o Search for information and visualise content and who o Personal content composition can also publish some type of o Visualise information user driven content o Downloaded free information o Use free services. o Publish metadata102 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Park administration Policy makers Professionals groups Teachers Citizens Students TouristsTable 5: Actor activities.Generic use casesThe defined user cases are initial list, which is based on pilot use cases. This generic use caseswill be further elaborated in final version of this deliverable.List of use cases (Table 6): Generic use case Generic tasks Scenario Description Actors involved relevance User User groups All scenarios To define user groups and their Administrator administration definition access rights to single services of and system security: Stakeholder All scenarios Every user can register himself in Registered User, registration the system. The system generates a Expert User, password for him. Content Provider, Administrator User All scenarios Administrator has to approve, so Administrator approvement users can have access to system Setting user All scenarios Administrator can define for eache Administrator roles user, to which groups he belongs Digital Rights All scenarios It is necessary that it can be defined, Content Provider, Settings which groups of users have access to Administrator (DRM) concrete data, metadata and services User priority All scenarios Every user can select priorities from Registered User, definition a prepared list. This helps to Expert User, customise the system for them Content Provider, Administrator User All scenarios Every user can decide about deleting Registered User, deregistration his registration in the system. In Expert User, such cases all information about Content Provider, them has to be deleted from the Administrator system. In some cases, the administrator could decide to deregistered a user. User login All scenarios A user can log or unlog himself to Registered User, switch required functionality Expert User,104 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Content Provider, AdministratorSearch and Search All scenarios To use simple or extended search in Non registereddiscovery metadata; connected catalogues users, Registered User, Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator Browse All scenarios Every user can see metadata detail Non registered metadata from searched data users, Registered User, Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator Join a new All scenarios Every user can temporally selected a Non registered catalogue new catalogue for search users, Registered User, Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator Search for All scenarios Every user can provide search for Non registered objects existing objects users, Registered User, Expert User, Content Provider, AdministratorData and Uploaded All scenarios Data could be uploaded on a server Registered User,metadata data in predefined formats Expert User,management Content Provider, Administrator Delete data All scenarios System has to support delegating Expert User, data Content Provider, Administrator Change data All scenarios System has to support changes of Content Provider, format data format Administrator Change data All scenarios System has to support changes of Content Provider, model data model Administrator Metadata All scenarios System has registered, edited and Registered User, uploading deleted metadata for data Expert User, and editing Content Provider, Administrator Service All scenarios System has registered, edited and Registered User, registration deleted metadata for services Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator Catalogue All scenarios System has registered, edited and Expert User, registration deleted new catalogues for Content Provider, harvesting and switch parameters Administrator for harvesting Coordinate All scenarios System has to support changes Expert User, transformatio among different coordinate system Content Provider, n Administrator Downloaded All scenarios Data can be downloaded by users Non registered data according to their rights users, Registered SDI, Communities and Social Media 105

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User, Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator Sensor data La Palma Data are automatically collected Content Provider, collection Protected from sensors Administrator Marine Area (ES) On line All scenarios Data are online stored in a system Registered User, terrain using mobile equipment with Expert User, collection positioning systems Content Provider, Administrator Off line All scenarios Data are stored on mobile system Registered User, terrain and then uploaded on server Expert User, collection Content Provider, Administrator Off line Position of measurement is stored Expert User, Wild Salmon terrain on mobile equipment and then Content Provider, Monitoring collection uploaded on server. After data Administrator (IE) with analysis in laboratory, results of La Palma laboratory measurement are connected to Protected analysis position Marine Area (ES) Economical activity at marine coastal benthic habitats (LV) Web based All scenarios The client allows to visualise objects Registered User, Data and stored attributes Expert User, vectorisation Content Provider, AdministratorVisualisation Compose data All scenarios User can compose its own data Non registered and service composition from services. The users, Registered composition description could be User, Expert User, stored on local computer Content Provider, Administrator Publish All scenarios User can compose its own data Registered User, composition composition from services. The Expert User, of data and composition description could be Content Provider, services stored on local computer and on Administrator server Visualisation All scenarios The selected composition could be Non registered of visualised users, Registered composition User, Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator 2D View data All scenarios Client for Web based visualisation Non registered106 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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tracking Monitoring navigation functions users, Registered analysis (IE) User, Expert User, Hiking Trip Content Provider, Planner (IT) Administrator Image La Palma System has to support analysis of Non registered processing Protected satellite images users, Registered Marine Area User, Expert User, (ES) Content Provider, Wild Salmon Administrator Monitoring (IE) Sensors data La Palma System has to support on line and Non registered analysis Protected on demand sensors data analysis users, Registered Marine Area User, Expert User, (ES) Content Provider, Administrator Other type of All scenarios There is need for such analyses like Non registered analysis buffering, overlapping, attribute users, Registered analysis etc. User, Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator Modelling All scenarios System has to support a complex Non registered and scenarios analysis like for example analysis of users, Registered building chemical distribution in water User, Expert User, Content Provider, Administrator Registry To manage Thesaurus like Gemet has to be Content Provider, management information supported Administrator in thesaurus Manage All scenarios System has to support gazetteers for Content Provider, gazetteers searching geographical terms Administrator Manage other All scenarios Need for support registries like list Content Provider, registries of organisations, etc. Administrator Monitoring and Monitor All scenarios It is necessary to monitor, who is Content Provider, control service registration registered, logged in etc. Administrator process Monitor All scenarios For data it is necessary to monitor, Content Provider, requests for who accesses data Administrator access with DRM Monitor All scenarios For services it is necessary to Content Provider, requests monitor, who uses concrete services Administrator servicesTable 6: Generic use cases.108 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Data types used in habitats architecture and how the data are accessedData in HABITATS (Table 7) architecture are divided according to their origin and theirusability. Basic types of data can be found in next table. Data type Description Examples of data How data are used How are data accessible Reference Reference data Topographic Data are primarily Data could be stored data are data, maps, Pan used for locally, or their could be which are European data visualisation, in accessible using Web coming from sets, some tasks they Services (Web Mapping other systems, administrative could be used also Services for and which are borders, cadastre, as background data visualisation, Web not changed orthophotos, for analysis (could Feature Services or Web inside of define areas of Coverage services for HABITATS analysis, buffers, data analysis) etc.) Satellite Data coming SPOT IMAGE, Data are primary Primary data will be imagery from Earth Quick Bird, used for data accessible trough observation, MODIS (Aqua analysis, partly for external catalogues which are and Terra) visualisation using Web coverage used for services analysis and visualisation In-situ Data Meteorological Data are used for Data from sensors are observation measured by data, quality water analysis (including usually stored in sensors and measurement temporal) and partly database and then are stored in for visualisation. accessible through databases Usually visualisation services like Sensor is necessary using Observation Services, or graphs etc. Web Processing Services Terrain Data collected GPS Data are validated Data are accessible from measureme in the field measurement, and then used for equipment in nt using specific geometrical updating of existing proprietary formats or measurement measurement, data, next analysis using Web services equipment photography with or visualisation positioning etc. User edited Specific data Point of interests, Data are validated Data are stored in data layers, where user collected data and then used for database using system groups of about objects, user updating of existing middleware, accessible people could observation data, next analysis could be using web on line edit or visualisation services data and attributes User Results of Image Data are used for Data are stored on derived analysis of classification, reporting and server (often data previous types extrapolation visualisation temporally) and are of data from sensors accessible using Web servicesTable 7: Habitats data. SDI, Communities and Social Media 109

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Basic componentThe next step was functional decomposition of the system into basic objects which interact atinterfaces. It describes the functionality provided by the system and its functionaldecomposition. This viewpoint focuses on the components of the system, not consideringdistribution aspects, which are managed within the Engineering and Technology viewpoints.The proposed architecture extends principles of Service Oriented Architecture, based onpublish-find-bind paradigm. The primary components identified for HABITATS are describedbelow.Wild Salmon MonitoringThe Irish Pilot Salmon CL portal integrates inputs from many sources, as listed in section 4.9.2.The portal is being implemented at www.habitats.ie using GeoNetwork1 for the metadatadefinition and maintenance, and GeoServer2 to expose the various data. Using the HABATATSmetadata (defined in D3.2.1) this data is being made Discoverable and Viewable as Catalogueson the Irish Spatial Data Exchange (ISDE) and HABITATS RL Portal to demonstrate andvalidate its “INSPIRE Compliance”. The Salmon CL portal will also contain various Salmon Angling services andapplications that are constructed from the various data sources in response to users’ requestsand suggestions, and will be constantly evolved throughout the WP5 Validation Pilots. Thus the pilot will implement the following services: • The data management • The metadata management • Catalogue service platform • The HABITATS metadata profile is being applied. • View, share and download services will be in the geoportal • Next step expected is to develop smatphones appsLa Palma Protected Marine AreaIn this pilot we obtain data from a sensor system and from a sensor connector we store thesedata in a database. This first database is a SQL DBMS in the form of tables and the relationshipamong the data is also stored in tables. From these tables, we get the representative geodata in shapefile format. The platform topublish these data is composed by Geoserver, Geonetwork with PostgreSQL. This platformworks with WMS, WFS, WCS and CSW standards and allows View and Discovery services.Also we get Authetication service and from this we could manage groups, roles and users withdifferent levels of permission, it allows a profiling and open the door to Download an MetadataEditor services. SDI, Communities and Social Media 111

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Augmented Reality - Natural ReserveWe have harvested the representative geodata in shapefile format, mainly interesting points.The platform to publish these data is composed by Geoserver, Geonetwork with PostgreSQL.This platform works with WMS, WFS, WCS and CSW standards and allows a Discoveryservice. Also we get Authetication service and from this we could manage groups, roles andusers with different levels of permission, it allows a profiling. It opens the possibilities toDownload, Metadata Editor, and View services. The last case could be oriented to differentusers. The View service must be process through our Augmented Reality software to bedisplayed in the AR devices and mobile phones. From these platforms we could work toimplement the Web 2.0 for the users.Hiking Trip Planner and Sheep and Goat Herding ManagementThe platform used: • Data management • WMS, • WFS, • CSW services • WPS • Download servicesEconomical Activity at Marine Coastal Benthic HabitatsIn pilot are collected all Latvia Institute of Aquatic Ecology maintained data and datasets.Historically data are collected and maintained in ESRI Shapefiles, Microsoft XLS and CSV files.These data has been normalized, created data models and imported in SQL relation databasemanagement system with spatial data support. Using in database created data model andstored data in the platform is possible to create and manage as OGC WMS, WFS, WPS, WCSservices and manage access and publishing options. Since data are not maintained in INSPIREequivalent or extended data model will be provided INSPIRE compliant WFS view on data.Meta-data system are stored information about datadatasets and services, meta-data system isable to read WMS, WFS and WCS service meta-data information.National Forest ProgrammeFMI currently we can offer: • Datasets for Habitats reference laboratory • WMS service • Validated metadata (available both in English and Czech language)112 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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The conclusions about The Forest site classification data for sustainable managementand utilization of forest road network: • Platform used - UMN Minnesota, Openlayers and Micka • Validated metadata (available both in English and Czech language) • WMS, WFS, CSW services • Download servicesSystem distribution of infrastructureThe HABITATS Networking Architecture has the goal of defining a system able to ensure theinteroperability and security of provided data and services. In particular, since an integrationwith the INSPIRE initiatives is needed, it is based on: • A methodological approach able to define a system architecture that is scalable and adaptable to the specifications and standards currently being defined; • The adoption of a Service Oriented Architecture based on WebServices and SOAP technology. • The reference laboratory will have next roles in project! • To offer possibility for testing new services • To offer access to global data for pilots • To support implementation of cross pilot scenarios • To making discoverable Habitats services for external platforms The objective of RL is implement such functions, which will guarantee this functions.Interlinkage of RL with pilots will be based on next schemes. Pilot implementation are implementing only functionality required by pilot user needs,Reference Laboratory is implementing implement full functionality. The basic scheme is onnext picture (Figure 26). SDI, Communities and Social Media 113

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Figure 26: Habitats architecture.ImplementationReference laboratory implementationThe Reference Laboratory (Figure 27) architecture provides functionality through modular, re-usable and interoperable application services. Each modular service have to have a clear,standards-based interfaces so that the services underlying technology, which could bereplaced if or when the current base-technology is upgraded to a new version - or whena competitors technology platform emerges takes over as technology leader. As a consequence,the architecture is extensible, especially in terms of plug-ins for additional, non-standard or"modified standard" protocols. which have been applied on national or regional level. Themodular architecture secures that any third party is free to create his or her own extensionpoints to the core architecture.114 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 27: Reference laboratoryWild Salmon MonitoringThe Irish Pilot Salmon CL follows all of the primary components of the HABITATS SOAarchitecture based on the publish-find-bind paradigm. The portal is implemented using GeoNetwork and GeoServer, and includes data andservices from many sources including the SSC regulations for 2011 on limits in specific rivers,fishing information and wider regulations, the Irish Spatial Data Exchange, IFI SalmonMonitoring Programme, WFD water quality monitoring, Wild Salmon census data from theMarine Institute and scientific wild salmon conservation data (see section 4.9.2). The Salmon CL portal will also contain various Salmon Angling Services andApplications that are constructed from the various data sources such as • Salmon Angling current Information. • Where are the local Salmon biting. • When Can I fish. • Fishing License • Catch recording (on a map) • Feedback (as a tourist Angler). • Etc SDI, Communities and Social Media 115

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These are being developed in response to users’ requests and suggestions usingMicrosoft Silverlight in a Visual Studio IDE, and will be constantly evolved throughout theWP5 Validation Pilots. In addition the Salmon CL Portal data layers will be exposed throughGeoServer to be merged into the IFI ArcGIS Interactive Map Viewer.La Palma Protected Marine Area The architecture design is according following scheme (Figure 28)Figure 28: La Palma Pilot Application. The first implementation based on selected infrastructure will be described in D4.3.1HABITATS Networking Services and D-5.2.1, D-5.3.1, D-5.4.1 Pilot Platform Integration,Execution & Interim Evaluation Report.116 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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The first implementation based on selected infrastructure will be described in D4.3.1HABITATS Networking Services and D-5.2.1, D-5.3.1, D-5.4.1 Pilot Platform Integration,Execution & Interim Evaluation Report.Economical Activity at Marine Coastal Benthic HabitatsThe architecture design is according following scheme (Figure 31).Figure 31: Economic activities scheme. The first implementation based on selected infrastructure will be described in D4.3.1HABITATS Networking Services and D-5.2.1, D-5.3.1, D-5.4.1 Pilot Platform Integration,Execution & Interim Evaluation Report.118 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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NaturNet Educational Portal user validationVesselin Drobenov1, Karel Charvat2, Tomas Mildorf21 Project Manager, REC CEE - branch Bulgaria2 Czech Centre for Science and SocietyThe Nature Net Plus project descriptionNaturNet Plus was a multilateral project funded by the European Commission’s LifelongLearning Programme. NaturNet Plus transferred knowledge from previous projects andinitiatives including the NaturNet Redime project, Plan4all, Humboldt and other. The transferwas made to the regions and enterprises in Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Italy. Themain focus was on vocational training in sustainable tourism; mainly in sensitive areas asprotected territories, national parks and coastal zones. The project established newly generatededucational content and introduced it through innovative platform for vocational training andeLearning to a set group of final beneficiaries interested in the field of sustainable tourism,geographic information systems (GIS) technologies, metaschools tools etc.Overview of the NatureNet Plus validation planNaturNet Plus was mainly targeting the following groups for disseminating the project resultsand for utilization of the educational program presented at the NaturNet portal: • On local level – politicians and decision makers in the field of environment and tourism, regional and local governments, cities, etc. • On regional and interregional level - public authorities, private companies, associations, universities, tourist offices, tourist industry. • On national and European level - expert panels on basic issues of sustainable tourism, professional associations, universities and other relevant research centres. • Citizens and different tourist social networks (this groups are main users of tourist services) - their opinion is most important for local authorities and tourist services providers, where their needs have to be satisfied by tourist services. The involvement of this target group is also important for education of other groups. The process of involvement presents complexity of different issues and requirements for new techniques supporting the interconnection with existing social tourist networks. • Specialized VET centres and professional VET networks (this groups could be described as the main providers on VET) – the participation of this target group is very important for the validation process as they could participate as corrective party for the process of training. Also could provide educated trainers and can introduce the project product as part of their internal classes and education activities. NaturNet Plus validation process was based on a bottom-up approach. An importantpart of the communication plan and the training and validation methodology was theinvolvement and feedback of target groups to define their requirements and to validate the SDI, Communities and Social Media 121

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project results. This includes project partners of NaturNet Plus as well as external institutionsand other private and public users. Involvement of those groups in the validation process shallbe reached via inquiry-based assessment, specialized questionnaires, papers, reviews and co-authoring in specialized articles, via internet and mainly via events (seminars, professionaleducation events, vocational trainings etc.). Three main questions were identified concerningvalidation: • Who is addressed by the NaturNet Plus products and what are their interests? • Who has to be involved for further activities to ensure sustainability of the NaturNet Plus results? • How should the results be prepared and presented to obtain a high acceptance by the NaturNet Plus partners and relevant stakeholders beyond the partnership? The strategic approach for validation was taken into consideration including severalinterconnected objectives. It aim should be at improving and testing the project content of theeLearning modules provided by the project and to clarify the project results with the projectpartners and other stakeholders. It should include also a feedback from all the partners andstakeholders that will serve as a one of the most general validation step. Informing broaderpublic and possible future users of the ongoing project activities and its results should benoticed too. Answering the above questions four main steps of the validation of the NaturNet Plusproject were described: Step 1 Elaboration and implementation of quality management plan The quality management plant is important for every validation process as it providesthe internal view of the project team for the product and of external experts involved in theproject implementation. The main aim of such plan is to provide internal assessment on theproducts performance and quality. Generally such plans includes specialized tools as reviews,assessments, external audits, peer reviews, surveillance reports etc. Step 2 Online training of trainers Thus, the project team is small and specialized in the specific implementation of pre-defined work packages for the training activities have to be educated and involved additionalgroups of experts – the trainers. The experts should be experienced in VET and eLearningtechniques and should be used for the further steps of education of representatives of differenttarget groups of stakeholders. The training of trainers could be organized at different sub levels as by individualtesting and self-education of people selected as experts, through online classes for training thetrainers or through seminars and/or workshops where the preselected pool of experts to beorganized at international basis and to be familiarized with the tools and application of theNaturNet plus project.122 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Step 3 Providing specialized training for people interested in the field of the project Based on the previous involvement and education of trainers from each countrya special selection of interested experts and people representing each of above described targetgroups should be organized. After that could be organized special seminars in each partnercountries, series of seminars per country or a series of blended courses (combination of e-based lectures, mobile learning and live seminars and discussions). The aim of this stage is tosecure a group of stakeholders to be affected by the project results. Step 4 Validation report As a result of the previous three stages one report should be elaborated. As part of thereport should be described lessons learned from the validation process, and recommendationfor future steps and improvement of the system.Methodology for validation Step 1 Elaboration and implementation of quality management plan 1. General assessment of the system performance and the training materials though surveys and testing. Based on a general questioner it should be made by random people or based on special selection by the stakeholder’s pool. A short external assessment report should be made. 2. Release of a handbook for developing courses on special tourism qualifications for each country. As an add-on to this handbook a special guidelines for trainers could be issued. 3. Data quality assessment – this assessment should be implemented and provided by the project partners as a feedback to the experts. It should be based on scientific and statistical evaluations. 4. Performance evaluations and surveillances – continuous assessment of the real-time implementation. This should be implemented through development of a specific administration panel in order to secure the daily based communication between the end users of the project applications and the project development team. A short surveillance report at the end on the project should be elaborated. Step 2 Online training of trainers (ToT) The online ToT could be organized at two sub-steps: 1. Involving the future trainers in the process of general assessment of the system performance (described in step 1) and including them in the pre-selected testers group. SDI, Communities and Social Media 123

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2. Organizing one general event for ToT where a group of 30 people (for all countries participants in the project) to be involved for online training on the system features. The training aim is to organize a group of professionals, familiar with the NaturNet Plus project and content in order to use it in their future practice. The training could be organized as a one day online event divided on two main sessions: a) 1st session – presenting the features of the NaturNet portal and applications. Practical activities and exams; b) 2nd session – improving the portal and eLearning contents. Development of new lessons using the NaturNet Plus applications and adapted training modules by means of class-room courses. Presenting the lessons to a broad audience during the training and after with the NaturNet Plus portal could be an asset. Step 3 Providing specialized trainings as single events for active stakeholders For the implementation of this step, at least 6 single trainings for stakeholders should beorganized in the partner countries. The timing of each event should be one day, where thefollowing objectives should be fulfilled. The main aim of these trainings is to involve peopleinterested in the recent local tourism trends and the NaturNet Plus applications and to trainthem using the eLearning module improving their skills for their future working activities. Each event could be organized under the following general agenda: • 1st session – presenting the features of the NaturNet portal and the NaturNet applications. • 2nd session – specific discussion according to the needs of the participants. Involvement of specialized trainers. Step 4 Validation report The validation report have to describe all the activities performed within this projectwork package in order to secure good training and validation of the project results. Generallythe report should be divided on three main parts, describing the main validation activitiescarried out and the outcomes of each, the main improvements made during the validation andthe recommendations and lessons learned for future developments and improvements of themain NaturNet Plus project outputs and outcomes.Trainings methodologyThe methodology used for training of active stakeholders was basically a workshop divided intwo sessions – presenting the NaturNet outputs features – the NaturNet portal and theNaturNet application and a practical work and examination with the participants. In thesecond session, more discussions were implemented based on pre-set questions. The mainrecommendations and issues stressed by the stakeholders are presented in the last sections ofthis report. The event was implemented as one day training. All project applications featureswere presented based on a pre-published presentation on the NaturNet Portal.124 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Draft agenda for workshops in pilot areas (2011)1. NaturNet Plus project – brief introduction (available in all project languages)2. Scenarios, tools and best practices ◦ Sustainable tourism as a tool of development in natural sensitive areas ▪ Next collaboration of destination management and SWOT analysis ▪ How to use social networks to discuss local strategies ▪ Comparison of existing documents from region and some public assessment ▪ Who could be involved in regional strategy ▪ How use in future Naturnet plus portal and social networks for building of local or regional strategy ▪ Assessment of current results ▪ How to start work in national languages ◦ Collaborative gaming as a tool for promoting of environment and cultural heritage. ▪ Current status of GeoGame ▪ Process of training for preparation of Games ▪ How to translated games to different languages ▪ Preparation and announced of competition about best regional games (in English language) ◦ Using spatial information and social media for tourist support ▪ Using OpenStreetMap as potential reference layer (if other data are not available) for local tourist systems ▪ How to combine data with other sources on portal • How to register services • How to upload data on server • How to register local or other catalogues, if the catalogues are available • How to publish data on portal (using shape file) • How to search for data using catalogues • What is Web Map Context • How to prepare Web Map Context and how to share WMC with others SDI, Communities and Social Media 125

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▪ How is possible to digitalise context using NaturNet portal ▪ How we can use data from NaturNet portal in different social media or content management systems ◦ NaturNet Plus Geoportal and concept of social media ▪ What is current content and how to continue • How to translate content • How to integrate with social networks • Slideshare or other media and how to integrate with portal • What content could be usefull to translate • IPR ▪ Tools description • Which tools are available • What has to be translated • How to provide ◦ Future tourist information systems ▪ Concept of single information space for tourism ▪ Concept of Geoportal4everybody • How we could extended this concept for tourism ◦ Related project, their portals and how to cooperate with them ▪ SDI EDU ▪ Habitats ▪ EnviroGrids 3. Discussion ◦ How to go for rest of project ◦ Sustainability after end of the project All trainings were organized for 10 to 30 stakeholders from each pilot region andadditionally a second event for some of the countries took place – for target beneficiaries atnational level - universities, VET centers, tourist agencies and operators etc.126 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Portal contents reviewThe review of the content of the NeturNet portal was organized as an inquiry-basedassessment, and a special questionnaire was circulated among target beneficiaries. NaturNet Plus validation questionnaire for stakeholders: Welcome to the NaturNetplus WP4 Validation Questionnaire This questionnaire (see Table 8) is carried out in the framework of the NatureNetplusproject (http://www.naturnet.cz) as a source for validation, analysis and evaluation of existingcontent of the NaturNet portal (www.naturnet.org). Name Organization Role in your organization Contact (e-mail; web page; skype; facebook page; telephone) 1. Using the scale of 1 to 10, please grade the NaturNet Plus portal according to the application to your professional life. 1.1. If your answer is above 6 please describe any positive features the portal gives to your profession (optional) 1.1. If your answer is below 5 please describe any possible upgrades the portal should undergo (optional) 2. What is your evaluation on the qualities of the NaturNet Plus portal (using 1-10 scale) 2.1. If your answer is above 6 please mark the most countable features of the portal (optional) 2.2. If your answer if below 5 please mark the most inappropriate features and discrepancies with the project objectives. 3. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘About Natur Net Plus’ section (using 1-10 scale) 3.1. Can you please describe any additional information, which could be positive and useful for this section? 4. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘How to use the portal’ section (using 1-10 scale) 4.1. Can you please describe any additional topics, which could be useful for this section? SDI, Communities and Social Media 127

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5. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘News and events’ section (using 1-10 scale) 5.1. Do you think the information is up-to-date? Yes/No; any comments? 5.2. Please comment the contents of the RSS news on the right side of the portal web page? Are they useful for you and your professional life? In what topics?6. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘Pilot regions’ section (using 1-10 scale) 6.1. Do the information in this section is enough informative for you as a professional or as a tourist? 6.2. Can you please describe any additional information, which could be useful for this section?7. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘Sustainable development’ section (using 1-10 scale) 7.1. Can you please describe any additional topics, which could be useful for this section?8. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘Transfer of innovations’ section (using 1-10 scale) 8.1. Do the information in the presentation is enough informative for you as a professional? Do you think the content of the presentations could be ungraded with additional data? 8.2. Can you please describe any additional topics, which could be useful for this section?9. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘How to deal with data’ section (using 1-10 scale) 9.1. Can you please describe any additional topics, which could be useful for this section?10. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘GeoGame’ section (using 1-10 scale) 10.1. Do the game features are enough informative for you as a professional or as a tourist?11. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘Environmental impact assessment (EIA)’ section (using 1-10 scale) 11.1. Do the integrated approach of the EIA developed in this section will be positive to you in your professional life?12. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘Tourism’ section (using 1-10 scale)128 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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12.1. Can you please describe any additional topics, which could be useful for this section? 13. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘Related project’ section (using 1-10 scale) 13.1. Did you found any important information is this section? Please suggest any topics, from projects which could be useful for you? 14. Please evaluate the contents of the ‘Agriculture, Rural development’ section (using 1-10 scale) 14.1. Can you please describe any additional topics, which could be useful for this section? 15. Please evaluate the usefulness of the supportive sections as user blogs, library, follow-us, newsletters etc. (using 1-10 scale) 15.1. Please evaluate the positive impact of the Web 2.0 technologies to this project. 16. Please evaluate the contents of the metadata search engine, located on top of the main page (using 1- 10 scale) 16.1. Please evaluate the easiness for search and the comfort during the metadata search? 16.2. Can you please describe any additional features, which could be useful for this section? 17. Please evaluate the contents of the map engine, located on top of the main page (using 1-10 scale) 17.1. Please evaluate the easiness for search of location in the Open Street Map and the comfort during exploring the spatial contents of the map? 17.2. Can you please describe any additional features, which could be useful for this section? 18. Do you find useful for you in your professional life that some sections of the portal are translated at the local languages of the project partners? 19. Please evaluate the user-friendly level of the interface? (using 1 -10 scale) 19.1. Additional comments of the interface. 20. Any additional comments on the content or the general benefit of the portal for the VET process?Table 8: NaturNet Plus Validation Questionnaire. During the validation process also were examined all active discussions concerning theproject results on the project pages in the Facebook network and LinkedIn. Additionally shortfollow-up interviews with expects and participants in the project events were organized. SDI, Communities and Social Media 129

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Validation findingsExpert reviewThe general review on the project outputs, namely the NaturNet Plus portal and the NatureNetapplications has been organized by Ms Asya Assenova, assistant professor, PhD in SofiaUniversity “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Biology faculty, section “Methodology in education”;member of the University’s centre for eLearning and distance learning. As one of the main positive features of the project outputs which could be applicable inthe field of environmental education and education for spatial information are the: • Ability to create video lecturing courses and to organize trainings for future teachers and experts on the biology, geography, tourism. All of them, crucial for the process of development of rural and eco-tourism activities. Despite of the fact, the programs for video tutoring as the BizBiz application was presented at the end and as a future option for improvement of the educational program presented at NaturNet Plus portal as a set of PowerPoint presentation, this application shall be marked as one with many potentials. • Additionally the ability to organize synchronous and asynchronous communication between lecturer and students is also something very important. As the project team has shown many times at much events potential to organize educational and training events, this potential feature shall be implemented as part of the NaturNet Plus portal. • Another potential feature of NaturNet Plus is to organize and design new type of training using the blended learning methodology; • The different tools and applications which can be used in training; • The GeoGame tool has good chances to be used in organizing case studies within educational courses with students and also to present in attractive way specific touristic spot in any region. The last one is very important to draw new visitors in any rural area. In general the qualities of the NaturNet Plus portal can be described in 9 main items: • Content management – easy-to-use management system, where the new content can be presented to other users of the portal, to be organized in a friendly way and to be kept up-to-date for the needs of visitors in any regions featured in the portal. Also to be accessed fast by other trainers. • Course management – this is an item, which gives good opportunity for the trainers to keep the educational program updated and to test and communicate new ideas with other users of the portal, supported by the portal communication services. • Portal communications services – although, this item presents good options to collect easily feedback from the trainees and/or tourist from any region.130 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Another 6 items, which gives additional strength to the NaturNet Portal are: • Document management; • Tools for online training; • Easy-to-use interface; • Applications available from everywhere; • Self-registration of new users; • Content and device support. All different sectors of the NaturNet portal including the available computerapplications and tools are well presented and organized. Nevertheless, some of the featuresneed improvements. They should not be much technical, but considered to be future needs ofthe portal users. The following add-ons could be described section by section: • ‘About NaturNet Plus’ - Its necessary to determine the audience for the page more clearly, and to put it for the interest of the portal users. • ‘How to use the portal’ - It could be focused on more specific information for different target groups, which are expected to be the portal users. • ‘News and events’, RSS news and the blog – Any discussion on a topic should include multiple perspectives from a variety of views. • ‘Pilot regions’ - the information in this section is well structured and useful. It is arranged and described in general algorithm, which allows comparative analysis for different regions. • ‘Sustainable development’ - to demonstrate more practices for implementing the world SD strategy in different countries. • ‘Transfer of innovations’ - The content is very complex and involves environmental, economic, political, social, cultural, and scientific context. The quality of the information within any section and in particular this one should be related more to the needs of the users. The option for inserting comments under each section is something very useful, especially is a dynamic subject as the sustainable development. This feature should be future developed is order to give to the users and trainees the opportunity to comment and improve the education content based on own knowledge and studies. • ‘How to deal with data’ – it will be better for future improvement to present more detailed information about the type of data which the user is advantaged and the existing sources. • The ‘GeoGame’ is very interesting and has good potentials to achieve many educational aims. It gives opportunity to show and evaluate specific student knowledge about different regions. • IEIA - Certainly this approach will be very useful in students and adult education, but it needs long term survey in order to describe the real potentials in real of such tool. SDI, Communities and Social Media 131

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• ‘Tourism’ – More regions need to be presented for future in order to reach national coverage. It is very important also more achieved for sustainable tourism products and practices to be presented. • ‘Related project’ - to include more related information and scientific articles related to sustainable development and the role of sustainable tourism for the development of areas with marginal income. • ‘the use of web 2.0 technologies to this project’ – as one of the main features of the web 2.0 technologies can be described the process of enabling users to collaboratively create, share and recreate knowledge from multiple sources. To leverage collective intelligence and organize action. With the assistance of the web 2.0, individual users are able to add their own data and services to collaborative web software, remixing the web 2.0 sites into increasingly useful tools. In order to reach all these characteristics working, more users for the portal from each partner country should be attracted. In order to reach the certain level and to see the real potentials of the web 2.0 the portal needs to triple the audience using the contents and to move the project outputs from the field of innovation to the fields of common use. • ‘Open Street Map’ - searching with Open Street Map is very intuitive and easy for orientation and will be very useful during any educational process. • ‘Translations in local languages’ – it is critical in order to reach the necessary number of users, to make the project results helpful to the pilot region and to start educating local visitors and/or professional in tourism. The translations make the portal more accessible and allow to be used by more people. As a conclusion, the results of this innovation transfer project shall follow the expectedforthcoming activities in order to spread all collected knowledge and methodologies to otherregions. This will be useful for turning the project outcomes from innovation for a pilot regionto applications with a common use in touristic areas and within the national educationalsystems for VET.Stakeholders evaluation on design, content and impactDuring the evaluation was used an inquiry based questionnaire with a scale from one to ten.Additionally each section in the questioner was evaluated on average basis with options forrecommendations for improvement, and comments on the working and/or non-applicableparts of the NaturNet Plus portal and the NaturNet applications.Stakeholder’s impact General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100 % above average 7,75 As one of the main impact presented by the people who took part in the survey, waspresented the options for sharing of project results, articles and other media through theNaturNet Plus Portal and the social networks, where the project is presented as Linked-In,Facebook and the INSPIRE Forum. Although, the portal was presented, by many as useful132 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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because of information about tourism development in targeted regions, but with the mainimportant elements, and new, actual, up-to-date and interesting information. Also, thepotentials for the professional life of some of the interviewees have been marked. In general the impact to the stakeholders and the general evaluation of the portal madeby the inquiry can be stated as very good with its 7,75 appraisal points, and as one of the mainand attractive features for the stakeholders at national and local level can be marked the news,the tools and the valid information sets regarding environmental issues and educationpublished at the Nature Net Plus portal.Portal features General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100 % above average 7.58 The portal qualities are visible for the stakeholders mainly in the links to social networksand options for receiving new and relative information, the metada catalogue, and thevisualization of geographic features. Also as important part of the portal the simplicity of thenavigation, clear graphic, the simple platform and the eye-catching background were marked.This leads to the conclusion that the portal is simple enough for professional and for tourists,and giving many tools and well described information in different fields makes the projectoutcomes suitable for the needs of VET education and for rural tourism.Portal design General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100 % above average 7.58 Additional to the NaturNet Plus portal and tools qualities some suggestions forimprovements were presented as part of the collected feedback. The main one is the suggestedonline guide and/or intuitive help with tooltips, which can be very useful while navigation byunexperienced person is performed and should make the portal contents more accessible fornon-professional people. It is very important the guide to be able to run also in nativelanguage.Portal content review During the validation process the portal content also was evaluated section by section.Each section was compared to the needs and knowledge of each evaluator and was scored atdifferent level. Below the average score calculated on base of 12 received questioners, ispublished discussion and recommendation based on additional feedback by the peopleincluded in the enquiry. The following sections were examined: about NaturNet Plus, how to use the portal, newsand events, pilot regions, sustainable development, transfer of innovations, how to deal with data,GeoGame, environmental impact assessment (EIA), tourism, related project, agriculture, ruraldevelopment, contents of the metadata search engine, map engine, translations at local languages. SDI, Communities and Social Media 133

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Estimation and discussion of the section ‘About NaturNet Plus’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 8.42 As additional recommendation for improvement of this section a list of affiliatedpartners and organizations has been marked. Also more information about partners andpractices in alternative tourism can be included. This could give to the portal user new ideasfor new activities, but can be reached only by increasing the portal users and affiliated regions. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘How to use the portal’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 7.66 The work with the NaturNet Plus geoportal is similar to other content managementsystems (CMS) and the need for any specific detailed description of single action is notnecessary. Even though several remarks were selected concerning mainly the technicalstructure of the text and the need of tutorials on ‘how to deal with the CMS and to importdata?’ Estimation and discussion of the section ‘News and events’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 8.16 The valid information presented in this section is highly appreciated pay the peopleinvolved in the survey. Moreover, some of them are stressing the need for more specific newsabout the pilot regions included in the project. Also one small but important technicalremarked, that the list of feeds could be a bit shorter and display for example only first two RSSnews. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Pilot regions’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 8.33 Some of the information in this section was parked as very useful. However, it isstressed that the quality level of each region is different, and the information needs to beedited. For some of the regions to be reduces, because at the moment it’s exhaustive, and forsome to be improved. Generally the information set was described by the interviewees asrelative to tourists, but for education there is a space for improvements, as links to additionaltourist web contents for each region. Also was marked ideas for positioning a touristinformation centers (TIC) and more attractive historical and natural zones. Publishing ofa SWOT analysis for each region was highly appreciated.134 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Sustainable development’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 7.92 For this section the answers can be described as positive. The information for theinterviewees seemed to be enough, but with suggestion for adding useful links presenting moredetailed information what is sustainable development and the importance of this subject. Also,more information about what is planned in Europe is described as useful for future educationalprocess as well as subjects on sustainable development in the context of rural settlements,declaring protected areas and the need for preserving the nature heritage and the localenvironment. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Transfer of innovations’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 8.58 The section is described as very useful in the professional life of some of the involvedpeople, but also for non-experienced travellers. Links to more detailed resources could bepresented as example to web pages presenting the INSPIRE directive and the process of itsimplementation. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘How to deal with data’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 91.6% above average 6.58 The section should is selected as short. However, several ideas can be described for moreextended information set by practical examples and tutorial lessons with additionalinformation on each mentioned topic. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘GeoGame’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 8.16 The game features are enough informative for professionals and possible visitors in anyregion. It could be implemented also in schools, but also as an education for adult peoplepreparing themselves for a visit in selected region or evaluating their experience. SDI, Communities and Social Media 135

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Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Environmental impact assessment’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 33% above average 3.5 67% below average The portal feature is described as interesting matrix for simplifying the assessmentmethod, but should not be used as an exclusive tool. However the matrix was not visible forsome of the stakeholders included in the validation process, which is visible in the givenrecommendations. Some of the interviewees have selected that the tool was not accessibleduring their evaluation. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Tourism’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 91.6% above average 6.92 The section is selected as useful for the project objectives and the portal frame, but moreexamples of good practices are needed. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Related projects’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 83.3 % above average 7.17 The relations with similar projects dealing with spatial data are well described. It can befound important information as the information about metadata and the relating with the SDIand Habitat initiatives. Even though the section needs more related data about eLearning toolsand rural tourism. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Agriculture, Rural development’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above the average 7.42 No specific suggestions were selected or communicated during the validation process.Most of the people involved in the survey selected this section are very useful and clear. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Follow-us’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100 % above average 7.83 The section is described as a perfect tool for dissemination and retrieval of feedbackfrom stakeholders, and a perfect way for building and improving the local marketing strategies136 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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for any particular region presented at the NaturNet Plus portal. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Contents of the metadata search engine’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100 % above average 7.83 The search engine was marked and simple and easy to search, but some examplesand/or tips could be useful. Estimation and discussion of the section ‘Map engine’ General evaluation (below/above average) Appraisal (points) 100% above average 8.33 The map engine, based on OpenStreetMap is described as intuitive and flexible and alsowith good comfort for exploring spatial data. Some suggestions came on the usefulness of morelayers with specific tourist information for any specific region. Discussion of the section ‘Translations at local languages’ Within this section, no remarks for improvement of the content can be described.However it is highly appreciated as a very useful initiative, especially for people who strugglewith foreign languages. It’s suggested as much of the NaturNet Plus portal content to betranslated into native languages.Comments by stakeholdersInappropriate equipment and weak computer skills in local professionals in tourism and/ortrainers can be a handicap for the implementation of the project. More information for therural areas should be collected on that issue in order to present and adequate support of thelocal VET. During the validation process several discussions on the effects of ecotourism wereinitiated. They were stressing problems of involvement of national experts at local level andhow advanced is their work on which type of ecotourism is best suited for a particular localcommunity. As results many comments came, about bettering the communication channelsbetween national and local administrations as well as with improving this new industry withmore studies on animal behaviour as a result of different exposure to humans.Recommendations by partners, national experts and NGOsAs main recommendation for future improvement of the NaturNet Plus portal and tool restthe proposal for implementing a set of video tutorials and lectures divided per section. It couldbenefit for better understanding the content many trainers who are not so skillful with CMS,technical data and specific gaming tools related to rural tourism. Another recommendation came to the process of updating information, to make it SDI, Communities and Social Media 137

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more automatic in order to keep easily updated the news and any relative information flow inorder to keep the NeturNet Plus portal and tools helpful for the work of all professionalsinvolved in tourism and/or education as well as the local visitors.Lessons learntAny future project shall be implemented on more detailed assessment on the local specifics forutilization of innovations especially in the field of environmental education, eLearning andspatial data. Also the level of conservancy of the professionals in any particular field, as thetourism is important to be estimated in detail before the project beginning. This will helpbuilding better strategy for presenting and implementing the new applications and tools in thenew countries where the innovation is expected to integrate and grow.Final validation opinionThe project results can be described as a true innovation for the regions, where presented. Theycould be considered as a trigger for integration in the national legislation and rules the subjectsfor educational practices for eLearning and blended education. Moreover the NaturNet Plusportal content was considered by the stakeholders as highly applicable for this regions. The useof the map for small and middle municipalities and by tourists active in all fields of alternativetourism as rural, agricultural, wine, adventure is also a great advantage for all of theparticipants. As a conclusion, the results of this innovation transfer project shall follow the expectedforthcoming activities in order to spread all collected knowledge and methodologies to otherregions. This will be useful for turning the project outcomes from innovation for a pilot regionto applications with a common use in touristic areas and within the national educationalsystems for VET.Acknowledgements • Tomas Mildorf, CCSS, External expert. • Kęstutis Ališauskas, Šiauliai city University, faculty of social science, lector, assistant professor. • Daiva Klimienė, PI “National regional development agency”, coordinator. • Meilute Gedviliene, Siauliai University, lector. • Laura Juozapaitytė, UAB “EVPA”, Project manager. • Benedetto Falcone, Municipality of Alì Terme, Public servant – urban planner. • Lorenzo Grasso, Municipality of Alì Terme, Mayor • Calogero Germana, Free agent, Architect – urban planner • Riccardo Zuccaro, Free agent, Architect – urban planner • Leonardo Vincenzo, Free agent, Engineer – urban planner • Denisa Lavinia Badiu, s.c. Multidimension s.r.l., Assistant Manager. • Asya Emilova Asenova, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohrids138 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Plan4all experiences with harmonisation and deploymentof spatial planning dataPetr Horak1, Martin Vlk1, Sarka Horakova2, Lea Manakova3, Miloslav Dvorak3, Pedro Lopez41 Help forest2 HF Biz3 Statutarni mesto Olomouc4 Ayuntamiento de GijónPlan4all Harmonisation ProcessSpatial planning data exist in very different formats and data structures across Europeancountries. The Plan4all team proposed a harmonisation process in which source data fromdifferent countries are converted into a general data structure. At the beginning, the datastructure was created on the basis of Plan4all conceptual models. Later, at the request of ECand JRC, Plan4all conceptual models were replaced by INSPIRE Technical Specifications withthe intention to support INSPIRE TS testing. The harmonised data are presented as map layersin web map clients and through web services. In some cases, the data are also available in theGML form that is compatible with INSPIRE TS specifications. The following figure shows.A basic principle of the Plan4all spatial data harmonisation process is demonstrated attheFigure 33:Figure 33: A basic principle of the Plan4all spatial data harmonisation SDI, Communities and Social Media 139

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The harmonisation process has been divided into 4 steps: 1. Definition of target data structures based on the models. 2. 2. Description of the source data structure – the exact description of the source data enables better understanding of data and definition of the transformation table. The description includes a scheme of data structure, description of object types and Code lists or enumerations. Sometimes the spatial planning data is not in a GIS structure and needs to be modified or transformed into another format. 3. Definition of transformation conditions – description of matching tables for a transformation object, attributes and values from the source into the target structure. The transformation has two levels – at first, the transformation of features has to be specified and then also transformation of code lists or enumerations must be defined for each transformed attribute. The transformation can be achieved by means of transformation tools or directly through an SQL query. 4. Data transformation – the process of physical data transformation. At this point, the data from different sources are harmonised and may be published in the same style. Publication There are several ways how to publish harmonised data stored in the target structure.The Plan4all regions are testing the publication of harmonised spatial planning data in theirown web map applications and have also provided data through OGC WMS and WFS webservices. Although harmonised data are prepared in the structure according to INSPIREspecifications, they may not be fully applicable for the appropriate INSPIRE model. Toguarantee a full compliance with the INSPIRE models, a further transformation is necessary.The output is a compatible GML according to the appropriate INSPIRE specification.Technical InfrastructureEach Plan4all partner involved in the spatial planning data testing is responsible for his owntesting infrastructure and detailed methodology according to his technology and experience.A general Plan4all infrastructure covers mainly SW tools integrated into the Plan4all portal.The Plan4all portal design is based on the principles of the Service Oriented Architecture(SOA) and is INSPIRE compliant. The INSPIRE requirements give to the overall systemarchitecture a loosely coupled integration based on the OGC standard usage, which allows touse any OGC-compliant software component and to easily replace it with another if necessary.In order to achieve interoperability, the main software interface between each particularcomponent has to be based on ISO standards and OGC specifications, following the INSPIREDirective. The Plan4all Geoportal was divided into four basic building blocks, which wereimplemented: • Metadata management (editing, discovery, access, harvesting) • Data management (upload, download, OGC service publishing) • Data visualisation (local data, WMS, WFS, KML and management of Web Map Context)140 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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• Content management (publishing of context and connection with social networks) • Part from the Plan4all geoportal, the project partners used their own SW tools for modelling, mapping, harmonisation and publishing.INSPIRE Data Specification for Plan4allLandUseLand Use is a specific thematic field included in Annex III. In the INSPIRE directive, Land Useis defined as Territory characterised according to its current and future planned functionaldimension or socio-economic purpose (e.g. residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural,forestry, recreational). [Directive 2007/2/EC] It is the description of land in terms or its socio-economic and ecological purpose. Land Use may be split into two different types: 1. The Existing Land Use (ELU: “current” Land Use in the above definition), which objectively depicts the use and functions of a territory as it has been and effectively still is in real life. 2. The Planned Land Use (PLU: “future planned” Land Use in the above definition), which is composed of spatial plans, defined by spatial planning authorities, depicting the possible utilisation of land in the future. PLU is regulated by spatial planning documents elaborated at various levels of administration. Land use regulation over a geographical area may be composed of an overall strategic orientation, a textual regulation and a cartographic representation. Spatial planning documents result from the spatial planning process, and therefore, once adopted, third parties must conform with them. The main value of the INSPIRE Land Use model is its simple, yet flexible structure thatallows data providers to publish their existing data in the most convenient way. In order toensure consistency between data sets containing ELU information and PLU information,a core model was first designed.LandCoverThe Land Cover (LC) is included in the Annex II of the INSPIRE Directive where it is definedas ”Physical and biological cover of the earth’s surface including artificial surfaces, agriculturalareas, forests, (semi-)natural areas, wetlands, water bodies.”. Land Cover and Land Use themes are sometimes mixed up because they are frequentlycombined in practical applications. The main difference between them is that Land Usedescribes the human activities that take place on earth’s surface while Land Cover focuses onits (bio-)physical characteristics. The data sets that combine both themes usually centered onland use in intensively populated areas and on land cover in extensively populated areas. Mapping of Land Cover information is done through Land Cover Survey Initiatives.Examples of such campaigns have been carried out in the European Union, like the EuropeanEnvironment Agency CORINE Land Cover program and the Eurostat LUCAS survey. Thesebases and previous works have helped on the strength and completeness of the Land Cover SDI, Communities and Social Media 141

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data model.Natural Risk ZonesINSPIRE Directive (2007/2/EC) defines Natural Risk Zones theme as: “Vulnerable areascharacterised according to natural hazards (all atmospheric, hydrologic, seismic, volcanic andwildfire phenomena that, because of their location, severity, and frequency, have the potentialto seriously affect society), e.g. floods, landslides and subsidence, avalanches, forest fires,earthquakes, volcanic eruptions.” The scope of the Natural Risk Zones data specification is potentially very large andchapter 2 of this report develops a scope for the work. Natural Risk Zones also involvessignificant engagement with other thematic areas from INSPIRE. This involvement stems fromthe nature of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and risk as defined later in this document. Severalother thematic areas will input attributes vital to understanding the nature of hazard, yet othersare vital in the understanding of exposure. The approach taken to model Natural Risk Zones is generic in its treatment of each ofhazard, exposure, vulnerability and risk, with a core model, whilst allowing extensibility to bemore specific where possible and required. Flood risk is significantly more precisely definedthan other hazards, due in part to the development of the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC).Examples of Deployment in RegionsHelp Forest SumpekWithin the Plan4all project, Help Forest (HF) tested a pilot for LandUse data of SumperkMunicipality. The municipality’s urban plan and its original were prepared by theKnesl+Kyncl Architects company and the data is available in DGN (graphical data) and DOC,PDF (textual data) formats. HF has modified the original data for publication in a web mapapplication. HF has prepared referential raster data and shp files from the original dgn files.The form of the textual part of the urban planning documentation has been modified in orderto connect graphical entities with the relevant text (see the scheme of joint publication ofspatial planning data at the Figure 34).142 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 34: A process of joint publication of spatial planning data. The spatial planning data are published through a web map application called “e-UP”(electronic Urban Plan) which is based on the HSLayers client. “e-UP” allows easy and user-friendly displaying of a local plan on the web. The main design of the local plan concept, whichcan be divided into several theme layers, is included among the data layers. A reconnaissancecity map, a cadastral map or an orthophoto linked via the WMS web service can be displayedas referential data. Further information layers of the local plan concept – such as territorystudies, public works, etc. – can be displayed over these basic layers. The e-UP application isoffered in the form of a service. It is in this way that the un-harmonised data are published.These (SHP) data represent the input into the transformation and harmonisation process. Theoutput data in a structure based on conceptual models can be published in the same way as thesource data – in a web map client and also through WMS or WFS web services. In the case ofSumperk urban planning data, the harmonisation process is built up on the source data in theSHP file. This file contains all important data regarding the land use specification. The basicstructure of the source data is presented in the Table 9. Originally, the boxes were filled out inCzech language, but for purposes of the Plan4all project a description in English and examplesof values have been added.Source_structure Description attribute_exampleCISLO Feature Number (ID) 345NAZEV_Pl Name of the Feature .656 Name Number of the Feature (from Name ofCis_Pl the Feature) 656Kod_Vyuz Land Use Code SXPop_Vyuz Land Use Description (from Land Use Code) Plochy smíšené obytnéKod_RP Development Area Code P11 SDI, Communities and Social Media 143

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Kat_RP Development Area Category (from area code) P Development Area Description (from D. AreaPop_KatRP Category) Plocha přestavby Development Area Number (from (D. AreaCis_RP Code) 11Vymera Area 0,5Zastav Volume Indication 15-35 %MAX_VYS_ZA Height Indication 13/17Kod_Strukt Code of a structure of built-up area BPop_Strukt Description of a structure of built-up area Blokový typDalsi_Pod Other requirements hromadné garáže P+G; US-08US Studies US-08: Jesenická uliceTable 9: A basic structure of source spatial planning data in Sumperk. The target structure for the HF pilot has been created in the SHP and DBF formats. Thetemplate files have been created on the basis of the INSPIRE LandUse Technical Specification.The database structure in the PostGIS is also available for data input. The target structure includes the following files (Figure 35): SHP • PLU_plan_s.shp - a polygon shapefile in which geometry is constituted by a polygon delineating a spatial plan • PLU_element_s.shp - zoning elements (land use areas) • PLU_suplementary_x.shp - supplementary regulations should be point (p), line (l) and polygon (s) shapefiles with the same attributes. We use only polygon and line ones • DBF • PLU_document.dbf – a table of documents • PLU_dimensioningIndications.dbf – a list of dimensioning indications (for zoning elements and supplementary regulations together) • PLU_dimensions.dbf – a matching table between elements (zoning elements or supplementary regulations and dimensioning indications) • PLU_textualRegulation.dbf – a list of textual regulations and legislationReference • PLU_regulations.dbf – a matching table between elements and textual regulations144 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 35: A position of target files within the INSPIRE Land Use model. HF presents both source data and harmonised data in the web map application eUP(electronic Urban Plan) based on the HSLayers web client (Figure 36). The main design of thelocal plan, which is divided into several theme layers, is included among the data layers.A reconnaissance city map, a cadastral map or an orthophoto linked via the WMS web servicecan be displayed as referential data. Further information layers of the local plan concept – suchas territory studies, public works, etc. – can be displayed over these basic layers. Theapplication integrates also the extended possibility of an interactive contact between a user andthe city-planning department, a connection to “Inspection of Real Estate Cadastre” in theCzech Republic and more.Figure 36: Examples of original and harmonised spatial planning data. SDI, Communities and Social Media 145

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The web map application is available on the following address: http://apps.hfbiz.cz/apps/sumperk/up/ Web services publishing is provided through Geohosting functionality on the Plan4allportal; the services offered by the system are WMS and WFS. Metadata for data and servicesare registered in the Micka metadata system which is also included in the Plan4all portal. By means of the web services, HF publishes spatial planning data in the target(harmonised) structure.http://vm-glog.wirelessinfo.cz/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?SERVICE=WMS&map=c:/ms4w/apps/glog/data/DataFiles/Plan4All/inspire/sumperk/sumperk.map&request=GetCapabilities As mentioned above, HF publishes harmonised spatial planning data through WMSand WFS web services. The structure of this data has been defined in relation to the INSPIREtechnical specification, but the output does not fully conform to the expected INSPIRE GML.To get a compatible INSPIRE GML, HF has developed a technology and service called theHFIT (HF INSPIRE Transformator – Figure 37). The HFIT is a technology aimed at offeringa simple tool for data publication in the GML format according to the appropriate INSPIREdata specification.Figure 37: Help Forest INSPIRE Transformator scheme. Harmonised data are stored in the PostGIS or alternatively in shp files and thenpublished through the WFS. The HF Transformation Service transforms the XML coming fromthis WFS into a new GML which is compatible with appropriate INSPIRE TechnicalSpecification. Description of the transformation process for each technical specification isindicated in a separate XSLT which is the parameter of the transformation.146 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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HF has created the XSLT for Land Use, but the HFIT is usable also for other thematictransformations with a corresponding XLST. A GML compatible with Land Use INSPIRE TS is available on the address: http://vm-glog.wirelessinfo.cz/glog/Glog/Plan4All/XslTransform.php?project=Plan4All.Sumperk There does not exist a shared obligatory standard for spatial planning data on a locallevel in the Czech Republic. The pilot with spatial planning data complies with generalconventions and fully accepts Czech legislation for Land Use. Tests have proved that it is possible to transform datasets from planning into the LandUse INSPIRE Data specification. Nevertheless some changes of the technical specification andan extension of code lists (mainly HILUCS) would be useful for better conformity to theINSPIRE TS and Czech spatial planning data. Czech spatial planning data can be transformed into an INSPIRE valid GML. Because ofsome problems with implementation of available transformation tools, HF has developed itsown technology for spatial data transformation into an INSPIRE valid GML. The technology iscalled the HFIT and was used for transformation of spatial planning data from Šumperk andOlomouc. Recommendations regarding the HILUCS code list: • add a value for “Leisure Time Activities” • add a value for “Other Areas”, which are known, but not listed in the code list Recommendations regarding the Technical Specification: • The existing Land Use seems to be useless in the Czech Republic and probably in most of other countries as well. Maybe it is not necessary to solve Existing Land Use when it is applicable in a few countries • Implementation of featureType CoverageBy DomainAndRange is quite complicated for LandUse and a more simple solution would be better for widespread usage. • Code lists and cartography should be defined also for other attributes that may be harmonised – e.g. exact specification of dimensioningIndicationsOlomoucAs Olomouc within Plan4all project represents local planning authority, main presence wasfocused into Land Use theme. Planning system in The Czech republic is urbanistic, so Land useplans represents mainly planned land use theme according to INSPIRE terms. For transformation to INSPIRE data specification Olomouc land use plan draft wasused. The reason for this choice was, that plan is under elaboration and conditions for digitalpart enables further use in SDI and also there is still a chance to make changes to be moreINSPIRE compliant if needed. SDI, Communities and Social Media 147

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At this time Olomouc procured the new land-use plan for the entire area of Olomouc103 km2 (scale 1:10.000) by the Knesl + Kyncl Architects company. Olomouc Plan draft was prepared in CAD technology –using Bentley’s Microstationdesign file format (DGN V8). Internal structure of plan follows national legislation - BuildingAct No. 183/2006 Coll. and subsequent Decrees. Responsible parts of Decree No.501/2006Coll. describing basic categories of Land Use types in Czech planning practise were used asreference materials for preparing SpecificLandUseType Codelist. Olomouc Plan draft (Figure 38) has more precise non-urbanised areas, like many otherCzech land use plans.Figure 38: Land Use Plan of the Olomouc city. CAD data model is well described in XLS sheets. Textual parts are in DOC format. Bothgraphical and textual part of draft is published in PDF format on web page:http://www.olomouc.eu/uzemni-planovani/koncept-uzemniho-planu/obsah-konceptu_(czech) For Plan4all project as an input original DGN files from plan draft are used. CAD designs were imported to SHP and adjusted to be ready for reclassification. For INSPIRE Land Use theme data specification 4 source design files were used: • Solved area (bounding polygon) • Areas with different land use (zoning elements) and areas of stand by land resources (supplementary regulations). • Areas and corridors for ecological networks components (supplementary regulations) • Height regulation areas (supplementary regulations) Import of CAD data into GIS required geometry check. In CAD drawing polygons areoften unclosed. In our case – in ArcGIS SW we used Repair geometry tool to correct such148 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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problems. As for Land Use areas (polygons) with different values of land use were stored indifferent levels of design file, it was easy to transform local attributes to INSPIRE mandatoryones according to next matching tables. For matching between attributes, it was crucial to study Inspire specification for LandUse very carefully. However Olomouc plan uses only part of Czech legislation based categories,it was more beneficial to make proposition of national codelists for some attributes andprovide mapping for all categories not only those, used in Olomouc plan. Both CodeLists andmapping tables were discused with Czech partners outside Plan4all consortium, but involvedin INSPIRE Land Use theme testing. As mapping of some vlues is not very clear,inconsistencies were reported in testing and commenting spreadsheets. Mapping schemas: Mapping Between HILUCS and Specific Land Use Type values (Figure 39)Figure 39: Mapping Between HILUCS and Specific Land Use Type values. Code List for Specific Land Use Type – Czech example based on national legislation –Decree No. 501/2006 Col. on general land use requirements § 3 – 19http://www.uur.cz/images/uzemnirozvoj/stavebnirad/vyhlasky/en/Decree501.pdf. SDI, Communities and Social Media 149

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SpecificLandUseType Definition: Specific indication on the land use of an area. Stereotypes: «codeList» Value: Residential Definition: Residential grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure conditions for dwelling in a quality environment that offers undisturbed and safe stay and everyday recovery and relaxation of its inhabitants, accessibility of public spaces and public services.. Value: LeisureTimeActivities Definition: Leisure time activities grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure conditions for recovery and relaxation within a quality environment.. Value: PublicServices Definition: Public services grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure conditions for suitable situation, accessibility, and use of public services constructions, and to create conditions for their utilisation in accordance with their purpose.. Value: PublicSpaces Definition: Public spaces grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure conditions for adequate situation, extent, and accessibility of public spaces plots, and for their use in accordance with their importance and purpose.. Value: MixedResidential Definition: Mixed residential grounds are usually delimited separately if it is not reasonable, taking into account the development character, its urban structure, and way of its use, to segment an area into residential grounds and public services, and it is necessary to exclude situating constructions and facilities, that degrade environment quality within the area, e.g. for mining, metallurgy, chemistry, heavy engineering, rehabilitation services.. Value: TransportInfrastructure Definition: Transport infrastructure grounds are usually delimited separately if the use of transport infrastructure and facilities grounds due to heavy traffic and its negative impacts excludes ranking such grounds among areas with other way of use, and further when delimiting of transport grounds is necessary for transport accessibility assurance, e.g. production spaces, public services areas for retail shops, raw materials mining areas.. Value: TechnicalInfrastructure Definition: Technical infrastructure grounds are usually delimited separately when use of these technical infrastructure grounds excludes their classification as grounds of other land use type, and when other use of these grounds is impossible. In other cases only the routes of technical infrastructure are delimited within the grounds of other land use type. Value: ManufactureAndWarehousing Definition: Manufacture and warehousing grounds are usually delimited separately if the use of grounds for e.g. manufacture constructions and warehousing, and agriculture constructions2, due to negative impacts over these grounds borders, excludes classification of the grounds with such impacts as areas of other land use type.150 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Value: CombinedManufacture Definition: Combined manufacture grounds are usually delimited separately when it is not reasonable to segment the area, due to its character, into e.g. manufacture and warehousing grounds, transport and technical infrastructure grounds, minerals mining grounds, and specific grounds.Value: AquaticAndWaterResources Definition: Aquatic and water resources grounds are delimited in order to assure conditions for water management, protection against water harmful impacts or drought, regulation of area regimen, and other purposes stipulated by legal regulations dealing with water, landscape protection and preservation.Value: Agriculture Definition: Agriculture grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure conditions for prevailing agriculture use.Value: Forest Definition: Forest grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure land use conditions for forest.Value: Natural Definition: Natural grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure conditions for landscape protection and preservationValue: CombinedUndeveloped Definition: Combined undeveloped grounds are usually delimited separately when it is not reasonable to segment the area, due to the undeveloped area character or its protection, into e.g. water areas, water resources, agriculture grounds, and forests.Value: MineralsMining Definition: Minerals mining grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure conditions for economic minerals and raw materials use, and protection of environment at mining and minerals processing activities.Value: Specific Definition: Specific grounds are usually delimited separately in order to assure specific conditions required, in particular, for constructions and facilities of country defence and security, civil defence, prison service, storages of hazardous materials; related transport and technical infrastructure grounds may be included in the specific grounds.Value: Other Definition: In special, justified cases, provided that the reasons are included in the rationalization of a general nature measure by which a plan is issued, there may be specified grounds with different land use than stipulated above . SDI, Communities and Social Media 151

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Harmonized datasets are published in map application using proposed colour schemafor HILUCS value (Figure 40):Figure 40: Harmonised dataset. Datasets are published via WMS services: http://vm-glog.wirelessinfo.cz/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?SERVICE=WMS&map=c:/ms4w/apps/glog/data/DataFiles/Plan4All/inspire/olomouc_koncept/olomouc.map&request=GetCapabilities Output GML is accessible at address:http://vm-glog.wirelessinfo.cz/glog/Glog/Plan4All/XslTransform.php?project=Plan4All.OlomoucKoncept It is possible to transform datasets from planning documentation based on Czechlegislation into Land Use theme Data specification. Only problems there are to map some ofCzech land use categories (especially mixed areas and “green” categories) into INSPIRE(HILUCS) ones. Recommendations for HILUCS 1st order Codelist extension/change isproposed in next chapter. The similar problem is in mapping Supplementary regulationsvalues, but according to specification comment on Supplementary regulation value codelist, we152 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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expect its changes based on national requirements and practises. That is why proposed codelistfor Local supplementary regulation value contains more entries than used in datasets fromOlomouc land use plan draft. His codelist was part of Olomouc contribution to Inspire testingand we hope it will help to improve Supplementary regulation classification on European level.GIJONFocused on the Planned Land Use model, the data has been extracted from the spatial planningproject of the city, called Plan General de Ordenación Urbana (PGOU, Figure 41), approvedby the local government in 2011. So far, the zoning of the entire municipality has beenpublished, but the particular conditions and regulations of each zone are pending publicationand have not been included in the project yet.Figure 41: Plan General de Ordenación Urbana. This data comes in the form of a polygon Shapefile with a field that classifies each zoneaccording to the local classification system for land use and from joined database with thefollowing tables: • hilucs_local: this table contains the correspondence between the categories in the local classification system and INSPIRE’s HILUCS. • planespacial: it stores the data related to the Spatial Plans with all their attributes. • planespacial_legislacion: it contains all the data of the Textual Regulations and Documents related to a Spatial Plan. • textoregulacion: text (text of the regulation) SDI, Communities and Social Media 153

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To carry out the transformation from our data sources to the INSPIRE Land Use datamodel, we use different tools, but the main one is the GeoServer 2.2 and its App-Schemaextension (Figure 42).Figure 42: Gijon Plan4all deployment scheme. The main responsibility of the transformation relies on the “Mapping Files”. These areXML files that lay down the correspondence of the data sources attributes with the INSPIREdata model objects (Figure 43).Figure 43: Gijon Mapping files within the INSPIRE Land Use model.154 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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A complete description of this structure can be found at: http://docs.geoserver.org/stable/en/user/data/app-schema/mapping-file.html The correspondence between the local Land Use classification system and HILUCS, theone used in INSPIRE specification, is done using the following table (Table 10):Local Class HILUCS ClassAgrario 1_agricultureCarreteras 8_networksAndBasisInfraestructureCorredores_Fluviales 4_aquacultureAndFishingCostas 11_naturalAreasNotInUseFC 8_networksAndBasisInfraestructureForestal 2_forestryINDUSTRIAL 6_industrialAreasINFRASESTRUCTURA BASICA 8_networksAndBasisInfraestructureRESIDENCIAL BAJA DENSIDAD 9_residentialAreasRESIDENCIAL INTENSIVO 9_residentialAreasRESIDENCIAL RURAL 9_residentialAreasSU 8_networksAndBasisInfraestructureZONAS_VERDES 11_naturalAreasNotInUseTable 10: The transformation table The data is accessible through a web client (Figure 44) at this URL: http://ide.gijon.es/visor/visor4.html?mapa=landuse It is developed using the following Javascript libraries: • OpenLayers 2.10 • GeoExtJS • ExtJS 3.2.1 SDI, Communities and Social Media 155

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Figure 44: Harmonized dataset on the Gijon server. OGC web services are published using GeoServer 2.2 at this URLs: • WMS 1.3: ◦ http://ide.gijon.es:8080/geoserver/wms • WFS 1.1: ◦ http://ide.gijon.es:8080/geoserver/wfs GeoServer 2.2 can transform the published layers to many different projections,including the ETRS 89/ETRS-LAEA used by the Plan4All map viewer (Figure 45).156 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Figure 45: Harmonized dataset on the Plan4all portal. Regarding data types and their attributes, the transformation has been perfectly feasible,but there are some issues about the Application Schemas: • In Land Use Application Schemas, the relationship between types, specially between Spatial Plan and Zoning Elements, doesn’t seem to be correct and clear. • It seems like there is no possibility of storing Zoning Element geometry without changing the Application Schema. • The use of non release versions of third party’s Application Schemas (e.g. GeoSciML 3.0) causes some problems with the transformation software, probably due to failures in the structure of those schemas. • A better definition of the relationship between types in the Application Schemas. • Using only stable versions of third party application schemas should be mandatory. SDI, Communities and Social Media 157

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Improving the identification of the movement barriers bymeans of the modelling processes of the spatial analysesPavel Sedlák, Stanislava Šimonová, Jitka KomárkováInstitute of System Engineering and Informatics, Faculty of Economics and Administration,University of PardubiceIntroductionA lot of different barriers can make a movement of the people with a disability more difficultor even impossible. Inclusion of the all citizens belongs to the priorities of the contemporarysociety. Barrier-free environment can be even used as an indicator of the maturity of the cityinfrastructure. Evaluation of the level of barriers presence or absence and planning barrier-freeenvironment belong to spatially-oriented problems which can be solved by means of spatialanalyses. Unfortunately, preparatory phase of a spatially-oriented problems solving anddecision-making is very often omitted, although it is a very important phase, which cansignificantly influence the successfulness of a project. During the preparatory phase, thesignificant decisions concerning data, analyses, software tools, visualisation methods, etc. mustbe made. Business processes modelling include all these necessary activities. The chapter isfocused on the modelling steps of the spatial analyses usable for identification of all kinds ofproblematic places from the point of view of the barrier-free approach. The reason is thatmaking suitable models can increase the level of understanding of the solved tasks. Manyvarious means of expressions can be used for the modelling. Suitable diagrams belong to themost widespread modelling tools. In practice, diagrams used for business processes modellingor for information systems development modelling (e.g. EPC, flow-chart, use case and others)belong to the most often used diagrams. Possible ways of utilization of the above stateddiagrams for the modelling spatial analyses are described in the text.Spatial analysesSpatial analyses are related to the studies of the spatial data. Mainly they deal with thesearching for some new relations between the arrangement and attributes of the objects or thegeo-element in the studied area and the modelling of these relations. The aim is to reach theirbetter understanding and knowledge of the development of the area. Spatial analyses are solvedin the environment of the geographic information systems (GIS) very often. GIS is understoodas a tool for decision-making support. In theory of spatial analyses, the different viewpoints are approached for theirsegmentation. The main different is the fact that not every software product can process allthe spatial analyses and also some of the functions can be used only for a specific type of data.In general, GIS can provide many types of analyses, e.g. (Konecny, 2003; Longley, 2001):measuring functions, tools for searching the database, topologist overlay, mapping algebra,distance analyses, network analyses, modelling and analyses of terrain, statistical analyses andimages analyses. The spatial analyses can be used in many fields of the human activities(infrastructure, epidemiology, criminalist, urbanization, urbanism etc.). In the case survey it isdescribed their usage when solving the questions of barrier-free.158 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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The characteristic can be defined within the spatial analyses, which pay for any type ofthe analyses: • A determined area of interest is specified: in case of the spatial analyses it is the spatial data, • The analyses are done using the appropriate methods and technology, • Methods and procedure use some different tools: tolls can be textual, graphic, mathematical etc. When modelling the spatial analyses there is a question if it is necessary to develop anduse a special procedure and tools determined for the spatial analyses or if it is possible to usethe procedures from the other thematic areas. There are many analytical and modellingapproaches. However, our interest is oriented to well-tried procedures and tools in practice,which are accepted by the wide range of users. They are sophisticated procedures of proceduraland data modelling. The text aims if the procedures and tools of the procedural and datamodelling of the spatial analyses can be used and how.ModellingModelling is a thought abstraction, reproduction of the existing system using the specialconstructed models (Polák, Merunka and Carda, 2003). Modelling is the means for viewing thereal world and a specific form of knowledge of rightfulness operating inside. Modelling isa fundamental process for any area of the development or projecting. Complexity of the systemis expressed by sets of models using the modelling procedures (Šimonová, 2009). Model is theabstract of the system; its aim is understanding, communication, explanation and suggestion ofsignificant aspects of this system (Dori, 2002). It is a tool, which enables to think about theproblem and asks questions leading to the interception of the fundamental elements of thesystem. A model is a formalized system which serves the illustration of the studied process. Itallows the illustrating and optimizing structure of the processes and removing unnecessaryprocesses. A simple graphical representation of the model is usually not sufficient. A worddescription tends to be attached, which describes the purpose of creation and describes theprocess as a unit (Harmon, 2007; Havey, 2005). The models are developed using the specialapproaches and methods, which are headed towards the selected problem area. From our pointof views we focus on well-tried modelling methods of the business practice, i.e. methods of theprocedural and data modelling.Analytical and modelling techniquesEach analytical/modelling method recommends specific techniques (tools) to its realization.Technique is determined how to reach the needed result; usually it determines the preciseprocedure of single activities, method of tools usage, variation of decision-making in differentsituations and what arises from it, it also defines the sphere of force etc. (Šimonová, 2009).Compared to the method, the technique is more precise in the results and more limited in thesphere of usage. SDI, Communities and Social Media 159

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There are many techniques, where of course some mingle or relate to each other. Usedtechniques are e.g. (Řepa, 2007; Šimonová, 2009): • Top-down decomposition: from the global view the decomposition/disintegration of the problem area is done to lower – more detailed levels; the risk is that the global decision about the structure is done without enough knowledge of details, i.e. later knowledge of the details can cause the revision of the whole model, • Down-top composition: according to the known details of the partial areas the composition is done to the higher “superior” units; the risk is that the model is made without the knowledge of global elements and output can be misguiding, • Hierarchical disintegration: the technique is closer to the top-down decomposition; it is a gradual disintegration of the “more complicated” unit to the simpler parts, which are then better used for the solution, hierarchical disintegration can be used for specification of the functionalities structure, aims, human resources, data, objects etc., • The functional follow up: technique is used for expressing the partial elements which follow functionally to each other, i.e. which functionality precedes and which “waits” for the output, - Time follow up: time follow up can be related to the functional follow up, but it is not a precondition; time follow up and also time dependence express the sequence of objects in time and can also express the time requirements, • Sequence: sequence expresses the sequence and follow up the elements in time, but compared to the time follow up the time length itself is not important; the vital is the detection of the elements sequence and it is not important, how much time is “used”, • Elements communication: the elements in the watched problem area are related to each other in some way, influence themselves, i.e. communicate together; therefore communication delimitation is an important technique for a closer identification of the parts and their integration in the unit, • Global delimitation of the unit: global characteristic is possible to use for the analysed problem as a unit, as well as for any sub-part; it means the delimitation of the all important features, which influence the element and are also necessary for realization of the element, • A detailed delimitation of the content („inside”): technique describes the detailed description of the “inner” parts of the given element, i.e. everything what and which relations it happens, - Interconnection of the context view and detailed sequence: it is the interconnection of the previous two techniques, i.e. the element is characterized by the view of “outside” (contextual delimitation) and then it is described in details its “inner” side (detailed delimitation), where the objects appearing in the contextual view must also have its role in the detailed delimitation, • Delimitation of the functionality: the user manipulates the theme as if the result of the solution was the offered functionality which is needed by the user or the other target group; therefore the precise characteristic of “what I ask for”, i.e. the precise characteristic of the asked functionalities is the necessary and the only step of the analyses; functionality can be delimited firstly by global and then by detailed delimitation,160 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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• Watching the data flow: every problem area uses the data (gain them, provide them, process them etc.), therefore the watching the data flow for the given problem area is an important technique contributed to understand the unit, • Watching the event influencing the problem area: the important characteristic are events, which influence the run of the solved problematic; at the events can be determined their sequence, influence to the elements of the system, their influence on the system behaviour etc. Different techniques are the basics of the procedures and methods, which are suggestedand used in analyses and modelling of the solved problem areas. Moreover, the sametechniques can be used in more modelling methods, i.e., e.g. when process modelling ormodelling connected to the development of the information system.Techniques and tools of the procedural modellingModelling of the business processes is a sophisticated discipline, which is an integral part of theprocedural management of the business. Every organization wants to improve its productionpermanently, those can be products in the producing companies as well as the services in theorganizations of the public administration. According to the present trends expressed by themodels of quality or ISO norms, the permanent business improvement can be reached onlywhen applied those processes together with procedural modelling. Currently, there is a number of definitions of the term process (see for exampleKirchmer, 2008; Weske, 2007), which vary in viewpoint or date of origination. Based on theindividual definitions we can state that a process is an ordered set of steps or activitiesperformed in the certain place in the certain time which has one or more inputs and generatesthe measurable outputs. The main goal of the process outputs (usually the product or theservice) is to fulfil the tasks of the external or internal process customer. Processes shouldcomply with the strategic targets of an organization. A process always consists of activitiesinterconnected to each other. Process can also consists of individual functions – so called sub-processes. Individual processes are triggered based on certain stimulations (reasons). Stimulifor triggering the process can be an internal or external event. The external events for theprocess triggering come from the process environment. The internal stimuli refer rather to theindividual activities. It is given by the situation in which the activity currently is – by its state.Individual activities are interconnected and are described by means of relations. The outputand the record book of the process and its customer are also important. (Harmon, 2007,Havey, 2005) Each process has some certain characteristic elements which can be described by thefollowing basic characteristics (Weske, 2007; Řepa, 2007; Mili, et al., 2009; Kirchmer, 2008;Dumas, Van der Aalst and Hofstede, 2005): • Process is constituted by an ordered set of activities, • Activities are done by actors realizing certain work roles, • Actors work within certain business units. • Process has clearly defined the start and the end, SDI, Communities and Social Media 161

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• Start of the process is triggered by external, eventually internal event, • Process transforms inputs to outputs, • Output of a process represents the value to the internal or external customer, • Based on the output we can measure the process efficiency, • Resources such as information, technologies or tools are used, • Process output is repeatable. The description and modelling of the business processes can be found out via usingsome different methods together with the different techniques and tools. Methodology followsthe given theoretical base, or SW tool, which offers the particular set of modelling tools(consisting mainly of graphic diagrams and structured textual descriptions). As examples themethods and procedures used for the modelling of business processes can be these (Šimonová,2009; Eriksson, et al., 2004): • Method of Business System Planning (BSP): It is determined to the analyses and the suggestions i.e. information architecture of the organization in realization of its information system. • Standard Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN): defines the graphic notation of the business processes; the supplement is language Business Process Modelling Language (BPML) for the process description. • Standard IDEF (the Integrated DEFinition): represents the family of methods for complex support of the business architecture modelling. • Method ARIS (Architecture of Integrated Information Systems): method of procedural modelling, i.e. methodology connected to the same software case tools ARIS (Software AG). • Method LBMS Development Method: relates to SW CASE tool Select Architect (of the business LBMS), which is for the object-oriented development of applications in multi- tier architecture. • Method Lean Six Sigma: provides the way, how to make less mistakes in the overall activities, by eliminating the discrepancies earlier than they appear. • Standard UML (Unified Modelling Language): helps to specify, visualize and document the models of applications suggestions and architectures, but also data structures and business processes. Modelling is a tool for representation of the real world and a certain form of knowledgeabout the functions inside. Process modelling records all the characteristic of a process, usuallyby means of the diagrams. (Harmon, 2007)162 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Every models use different techniques. As it was mentioned above, tools (diagrams) ofprocedural modelling are a big amount, they relate to the used methods, customs of analyticalteam, with used SW modelling means and so on. Among the usual modelling tools and techniques of the procedural modelling belongthese ones (Šimonová, 2009): • Hierarchical delimitation of the processes and sub-processes: For expression of the process decomposition model can be used the tool such as Diagram of the process hierarchy (from the method LBMS), Functional tree (from the method ARIS) or the hierarchy can be expressed by the chosen objects “common simple” diagram (e.g. using the objects of the developmental diagram). • Follow up the processes, procedure of the added value creation. For the expression of the model can be used the tool such as diagram with the name Model of the value added chain diagram: (from the method ARIS), diagram of activities (from the standard UML) or the diagram called Map of value flow (from the method Lean Six Sigma). Model shows the time and technological relation of the processes and sub-processes. Processes can be put in hierarchy. • List of contexts/characteristic of the processes: For the expression of the model can be used the tool such as diagram called Model of the functions assignment (from the method ARIS), diagram IDEF0 (from the standard IDEF), diagram SIPOC (from Lean Six Sigma). • List of activities/process operations: For expressing the model of procedural activities controlled by the events can be used the tool such as Diagram of the business process (from the standard BPMN), Diagram of procedural chains (from the method LBMS), Activity diagram (from the standard UML) or Diagram of the procedural chain controlled by the events (EPC, Event-driven Process Chain).Techniques and tools of the modelling of the information system developmentThere is another sophisticated discipline following the business processes modelling, i.e.modelling of the information system development. Both modelling disciplines create themodels, where the same modelling techniques are used for their creation. Many activities are based on data or information within the certain informationenvironment. It is created by the information system or several more or less connectedinformation systems. In course of information system development it is necessary to define thedata that users need to support their business activities; we are talking about data modelling.Data modelling has two delimited approaches – a structured approach and an object orientedapproach. Basic characteristics of both approaches are the following (Date, 2004; Eriksson, 2004): • Structured approach, which is older and created for requirements of the database creation or for a design and an implementation of the information system within the database system. Analysis by this approach is realized by ERD (Entity Relationship SDI, Communities and Social Media 163

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Diagram). ERD records basic business data objects, so called entities and relationships among these entities. There are many alternatives of these diagrams and therefore we are talking about the ERD family. • Object oriented approach which is newer and uses the UML (Unified Modelling Language) standard. UML helps to specify, visualize and document models of application and architecture design, but also design of the data structures and the business processes. It is, therefore, a general modelling language with wide range of usage. The standard includes a specification of basic set of diagrams including the possibility of extending (further application), language for specification of input/output conditions and also the description of the possibilities of the interchanging particular models among modelling tools. Among the usual modelling tools and techniques of the data modelling belong: • Hierarchical delimitation: For expression of the hierarchy structure of the objects or functions can be used the function structure diagram or the data structure diagram (structured approach). • Determining the data objects and relations between them: For expression of the model can be used the tool such as entity relational diagram ERD (structured approach), class diagram (object oriented approach). • Delimitation of the functionalities and closer characteristic: For expression of the model can be used the tool such as use case diagram (object oriented approach), where there are every use case characterized by the scenario. • Sequence of the practiced activities. For the expression of the model can be used the tool such as sequence diagram (object oriented approach).Aspects of the technique and tools usage for the creation of the graphic modelswithin the spatial analysesAs it was mentioned above, our aim is to suggest such modelling tools for the spatial analyses,which would be proved in the common practice. We have oriented to the well-tried modellingmethods, suggested for the improvement of the business practice, i.e. the methods of theprocess modelling and related methods of the information system development. At the introduction consideration we went out with these considerations andpreconditions: The certain types of the spatial analyses have the same sequences as theperformed activities therefore they can be marked as instances or, in other words, events of theprocess. In this case, it is an instance of a process of the certain type of the spatial analyses.Therefore, it can be presumed that the process approach including the tools of the processmodelling can be applied. • Spatial analyses are processed based on the certain demand – that means the request of a submitter or, in other words “customer”, for whom the spatial analysis is created.164 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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Mapping of customer requirements is the key factor because if customers present their requirements well and clearly, there is a high probability that the customer will be satisfied with the outputs of the spatial analyses. • Formulation of the requirements on the spatial analysis means the type of information which the customer needs to obtain. • Formulation of the requirements on the spatial analysis is focused on characteristics of the required outputs (information and ways of presentation). For the spatial realization of the individual types of the spatial analyses, the input data of the corresponding quality is always necessary. There is, therefore, the presumption that processes and tools of the data modelling can be applied. From the point of view of the spatial analysis it was very important for us to find outwhich mental procedures and techniques are the most convenient for the potential users sothat they could use them also for the spatial analyses and their modelling. We have definedthese terms due to it: • Convenient technique = technique which is intelligible, quickly understandable, the user has already known this from his job experience when modelling the other different problem areas, • Potential user = user solving the problems related to the spatial data, but he/she is not an analyst specialist. The first step for the first selection of the convenient techniques was a finding of theopinion of the potential users. During the year 2011 the inquiry was realized, when the workersfrom the different professions working with spatial data were asked. Some respondents met theanalyses and the modelling in their jobs. Mostly it was about the situations where they partlyparticipated in agreement of the process and data models. These were partly models related totheir particular categorization. Survey was limited so that we want to find out the modellingtechniques which are well understandable according to their subjective opinion. Theunderstanding of the problem was required from the viewpoint of model creation by the giventechnique as well as from the viewpoint of its following interpretation, i.e. understanding thecontent of the model. From the results of the survey flows that these techniques would be useful: • Hierarchical disintegration: delimitation of the functions structures, activities, responsibilities, aims, human resources, material elements etc., • Delimitation of the functionality and following detailed description: simple global delimitation of the asked functionalities, in other words, asked outputs of the solved area and their following structured description in details, • Identification of the relations: expression of the functionalities also time relation of each elements, activities, data sources, data outputs etc. SDI, Communities and Social Media 165

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• Contextual characterization of the activity which is followed by the detailed list of its content: each activity is convenient to delimit first in the general wider context without the concentration on its own activity progress, then the detailed description of the activity progress follows where the elements from the contextual viewpoint must be used. Another aspect is a usage of the technique within the particular modelling tool.Modelling tools generally – including tools for the modelling process and the data models –have the different characteristic. They are dependent on whether they are bound to a certainmethodology, whether they are strictly delimited or whether they are tangible. In modelling tools we can identify following characteristic: • Factor – “applicability limitation to certain method/methodology “: Certain tools are firmly bound to certain method or methodology; their syntax is precisely delimited. That means a demand on the users who need to get to know how to use them well. There are also tools which are tangible more freely and it is simpler for users to use them. • Factor – “tool awareness“: some tools are known to “wider public”, but that does not have to mean that the public use them correctly. Other tools can seem intangible and, therefore, they are less well known. It is a question whether to use well-proved standards (and keep the precise syntax) orwhether to use our own alternative. In practice, there are many standards, methods or tools on the various levels of theformalized languages suitable for the modelling processes. Individual tools differ mostly bytheir purpose and range. A number of them are influenced by the information systems andtechnologies.Suggested models and diagrams for the spatial analysesFor the analysis and modelling within the using the spatial data seems to be convenient to usethese procedures and tools: • Hierarchical disintegration (of the activities or the data): the convenient tool can be function tree diagram (from the method ARIS), Diagram hierarchy of the processes (from the method LBMS), or the common flow chart diagram, • Contextual characteristic of the activity: the convenient tool can be the Model of the functions assignment (from the method ARIS) or the diagram IDEF0 (from the standard IDEF), • Detailed description of the activity progress: the convenient tool is Diagram of the business process (from the standard BPMN), Diagram of the procedural chains (from the method LBMS), activity diagram (from the standard UML) or Diagram of the procedural chain controlled by the events (EPC, Event-driven Process Chain),166 SDI, Communities and Social Media

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• Delimitation of the functionality and following detailed description: the tool can be the use case diagram (from standard UML), where each use case is characterized in details with the so called scenario. • Identification of the relations (activities, objects etc.): the tool can be function tree diagram (from the method ARIS), Model of the additional value creation (from the method ARIS), activity (from the standard UML) or the common flow chart diagram.In this chapter we consider the following diagrams – the function tree model, IDEF, the flowchart diagram, EPC diagram and the use case diagram.Spatial analyses for barrier-free environmentThis chapter shows in the examples how the selected process diagrams and tools can be used,which can cause the better insight into the problem before or during the spatial analyses andlead to their better understanding. They can also contribute to the automation of the analysesand to the increase in quality of the repeated analyses. The solved situation deals with thebarrier detection on the pavements.Introductory viewpoint of the spatial analysesThe contextual characteristic of the functionality was used for the introductory viewpoint of thegiven spatial analyses. Diagram IDEF0 was used as a tool (from the standard IDEF) and themodelling software MS Visio was used. In the diagram every function has the numberedidentification (ID) and pertinently also diagram labelling, where the function is developed intoother sub-functions. Due to that it is possible to create the hierarchy of diagramscorresponding to the decomposition of functions to their sub-functions (structured approach).The top of this hierarchy is defined as so called contextual diagram labelled with number 0 (seeFigure 46). When forming the diagrams, the principles of their structuring diagonally isfollowed, and the diagram should not have less than three and more than six functions. Thereare some characteristic of these diagrams, when outputs of the given function can be the inputs,control or mechanism of the other functions. The mutual dependences are defined this waybetween the functions (IDEF0, 2010; Marca, 2006). Diagram has the inputs “Requirements of the people with a disability” – they are therequirements which depends on the disabled person’s possibilities and abilities to find theoptimal route. Another input is “Requirement of the spatial analyses accomplishment”. Thenecessary input for the analysis is the Data, which will be used in the spatial analyses. (Sedlák,Komárková and Piverková, 2010; Sedlák, et al., 2011) Another used technique for the modelling of spatial analyses realization was thetechnique of the relations identification and hierarchical disintegration. The used tool was thediagram Function tree from the method ARIS. The own diagram (Figure 47) was created in theenvironment ARIS Express. The diagram realizes the identification of the problem, collectionand data preparation, spatial analysis and results. SDI, Communities and Social Media 167

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Searching for the optimal routeAnother case study led towards the particular analysis, the analysis of network. The networkcan be defined as the set of line objects, which some sources go through. Analyses of thenetwork (network analysis) can be used only at the vector representation. The own searchingfor the route was realized in the program ArcGIS Desktop (ArcGIS Desktop Help 9.2, 2010).For the interception of the own spatial analysis of the searching for the optimal route thetechnique of the detailed description of process activities was used. The tool diagram EPC wasused (from the method ARIS). The diagram was modelled thanks to the software MS Visio(Figure 48).Figure 48: Model for the Process of searching for the optimal route; used technique = detaileddescription of the activities process, used tool = diagram EPC (from the method ARIS), usedmodelling SW = MS Visio (remade by Sedlák, et al., 2011) SDI, Communities and Social Media 169

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ConclusionThe aim was to suggest the usage of such modelling tools for the spatial analyses, which wouldbe proved in the common practice. The well-tried modelling methods were used, which aresuggested for the permanent improvement of the business practice, to the methods of processmodelling and related methods of the information system development. From the results of the survey it has arisen that these techniques were useful within theanalysis of the spatial data: hierarchical disintegration, delimitation of the functionality andfollowing detailed description, identification of relations, contextual characteristic of activity,which is followed by detailed list of its content. Another aspect was the usage of technology within the particular modelling tool. As itwas indicated above, in practice there are a huge amount of standards, methods, tools at adifferent levels of formalized languages, which are convenient for process modelling. Everymean differs only by its range and purpose. A lot of them are influenced by the informationsystems and technologies. For the analyses and modelling within the usage of the spatial data these methods andtools seem to be convenient. For the hierarchical disintegration, function tree diagram fromthe method ARIS or Diagram of the processes hierarchy from the method LBMS or a commonflow chart diagram can be a useful tool. For the contextual characteristic of the activity can beconvenient a tool Model of assigned functions from the method ARIS or the diagram IDEF0from the standard IDEF. For the detailed description of the activity progress the convenienttool is Diagram of the business progress from the standard BPMN, Diagram of the proceduralchains from the method LBMS, activity diagram from the standard UML or Diagram of theprocedural chain controlled by the events (EPC, Event-driven Process Chain). For thedelimitation of the functionality and related detailed description it can be used use casediagram from the standard UML as the tool, where every use case is characterized in details byso called scenario. For the identification of the relations the tool function tree can be used,diagram from the method ARIS, Model of the added value creation from the method ARIS,activity from the standard UML or the common flow chart diagram. In this chapter, diagrams for the solution of spatial analyses when solving the questionsof barrier-free were presented. Namely, the function tree model, IDEF and EPC were shown.ReferencesArcGIS Desktop Help 9.2. Network location. [online]. Available at: <http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.2/index.cfm?TopicName=Network_locations>, [Accessed 15 October 2010].Date, C., J., 2004. An Introduction to Database Systems. Boston: Addison-Wesley.Dori, D., 2002. Object-Process Methodology. Berlin: Springer.Dumas, M., Van der Aalst, W. and Hofstede, A., T., 2005. Process-aware information systems: bridging people and software through process technology. John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey.Eriksson, H., Penker, M., Lyons, B. and Fado, D., 2004. UML 2 Toolkit. Indianapolis: Wiley.Harmon, P., 2007. Business process change: a guide for business managers and BPM and six sigma professionals. Morgan Kaufmann, Burlington.Havey, M., 2005. Essential business process modeling. OReilly Media, Inc.IDEF0: Function Modeling Method. [online]. Available at: <http://www.idef.com/IDEF0.htm>,170 SDI, Communities and Social Media